In a Judgment of 10 June 2016, the General Court of the European Union annulled EU sanctions against Mr Oleksandr Klymenko, the ex-Minister for Revenue and Duties of Ukraine. In April 2014, Mr Klymenko was subjected to restrictive EU sanctions, including the freezing of assets, on the basis that he was allegedly under investigation in Ukraine for embezzlement of state funds. The European Council relied upon a letter from the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, alleging that criminal proceedings were underway regarding abuse of office by Mr Klymenko and others. The Court accepted that the letter was generic with no information regarding acts or conduct specifically imputed to Mr Klymenko and that there was not a sufficiently solid factual basis for Mr Klymenko’s inclusion in the sanctions. The Court ordered that the 2014 sanctions be annulled in so far as they applied to him, and that the Council pay Mr Klymenko’s costs. Professor Malcolm Shaw QC and Iain Quirk acted for Mr Klymenko.
