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Mikhail Fridman, the sanctions-hit Russian businessman, has asked London’s High Court to allow him to make payments, including a £30,000 monthly fee for the running costs of his London mansion plus payments to cover a driver.
Fridman, who is now in Moscow, is challenging the Treasury — which oversees the UK sanctions regime — to grant a licence authorising the payment of a £30,000 monthly management fee to a company that maintains Athlone House, the Victorian mansion in Highgate, north London, which he bought for £65mn in 2016.
He also wants another £1,850 monthly payment to be made for utilities including TV equipment, lighting, heating and security — including for his art collection at Athlone House, the High Court heard on Tuesday.
Fridman is also asking the High Court to order the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), which is part of the Treasury, to grant a licence to pay wages and salaries dating back to December 2022 for all non-security staff, including his driver.
The Treasury is opposing any changes to the existing licences.
The High Court heard on Tuesday that OFSI’s refusal to allow licence payments for a driver was “on the basis that the defendant is able to travel by public transport (notwithstanding the defendant had previously accepted that the claimant had particular security needs)”.
Fridman, who was hit with sanctions by the UK, EU and US, returned to Moscow this month for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. The Ukraine-born businessman is among the few oligarchs to have offered even guarded criticism of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Rachel Barnes KC, representing Fridman, told the High Court that the UK government was now saying the businessman was “not an oligarch” or “associated with President Putin” and his sanctions designation was based on his former significant stake in Russia’s Alfa-Bank.
She told the court that “for many years he has made his home in London and lives here with his family”, adding that he hoped to return.
The court heard that Athlone House was “a heritage property of historical value”.
“The licence application in relation to that property is not about the maintenance of the oligarch lifestyle but the maintenance upkeep of that heritage asset,” Barnes told the court.
Malcolm Birdling, barrister for the Treasury, said in written arguments that the UK government opposed the changes to sanctions and contended the applications for the additional payments were “decided lawfully” and “rightly rejected”.
OFSI rejected a licence for payments to “numerous staff”, including an estate director/manager, six housekeeping assistants, two handymen and one individual providing ad hoc services that would “enable Mr Fridman to continue enjoying the lifestyle he had prior to being designated”, Birdling claimed.
He said in written arguments that Fridman already had the benefit of a licence for several payments relating to security, including an ongoing monthly payment of £1,974 for CCTV maintenance.
The hearing continues.
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