In a judgement returned on Wednesday 6 June (case T-258/17), the General Court of the European Union cancelled the freezing of the funds of Sergej Arbuzov, former interim Prime Minister of Ukraine in January and February 2014, for the period from March 2017 to March 2018.
In response to the Ukrainian crisis, the Council of the EU decided in March 2014 to freeze the funds and economic resources of individuals identified as responsible for embezzling money from the Ukrainian state, among them Arbuzov. He was the subject of an investigation in Ukraine over his alleged involvement in infringements related to the embezzlement of Ukrainian public money and its illegal transfer out of the country.
Arbuzov's inclusion on the list of persons affected by a freezing of assets has been extended each year for an extra year at a time, most recently on 5 March 2018.
Arbuzov successfully challenged his inclusion on the list for the period between March 2014 and March 2015, but failed to do likewise for the period March 2015 to March 2016 and March 2016 to March 2017 (case T-221/15).
In its judgement, the General Court welcomes Arbuzov's appeal and cancels the freezing of his assets for the period between March 2017 and March 2018. It states that before the freezing of his assets was renewed for the period from March 2017 to March 2018, Arbuzov told the Council that the criminal proceedings against him in Ukraine had still not been brought before a court after two and a half years of investigations.
The General Court considers that the Council should have asked the Ukrainian authorities for clarifications as to the reasons for the lack of progress in the proceedings, which it failed to do. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)