Malta defends its actions on the freezing of Russian assets
Updated at 5.30pm with the reaction of the Maltese government.
The Maltese Government said on Wednesday that it has helped foreign governments identify and seize assets of Russian property worth millions.
She was reacting after a spokesperson for the EU was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying that Malta and Greece do not seem to be doing enough to enforce the sanctions against Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
According to the report, which quotes an EU document, Malta had frozen less than €150,000 in Russian assets, the least among all member states.
“Either they don’t have much, or they’re not doing their job. Or they did something but didn’t communicate with us even though they had chances,” an EU official told the news agency.
Billions trapped across the EU
According to Reutersthe EU document showed how almost every other EU state froze millions of euros in Russian assets.
Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain had each notified the EU that they had seized more than a billion euros.
Only Greece, which only collected €212,000, came close to the €147,000 collected by Malta.
Assets ranged from bank holdings to yachts, cars and real estate.
The government of Malta explains
In response, a spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister said that Malta has in fact frozen €222,000 in Russian assets ‘and found millions more that are outside the country.’
“The authorities in the public and private sector remain engaged in an ongoing exercise which has so far revealed that the vast majority of Russian assets registered in Malta were not located in the country,” said the spokesperson.
Historically, Malta had not sought Russian investments, he added.
“Malta has been proactively assisting other member states in identifying problematic assets. It should also be noted that a number of assets belonging to listed individuals or entities (registered in Malta but physically elsewhere) have been seized and frozen by other EU Member States, through mutual cooperation.”
Sources close to the government told the Times of Malta that “many millions” in Russian assets have been identified as ships or yachts that are registered in Malta but located in other countries.
In those cases, the Maltese government notified the countries where the vessels were located. The respective countries, then, seized the assets themselves.
“Furthermore, there were a number of judgments from the European Courts that were related to assets registered in Malta and of Maltese companies that were sold and the income from such assets was also frozen in bank accounts abroad but within the European Union,” the government said.
“A lot of work has been invested by Malta in support of common European efforts.
“Furthermore, recent data shows a significant decrease in trade between Malta and Russia, which testifies to Malta’s commitment to implement EU decisions.”
The assets can be confiscated and used for the reconstruction of Ukraine
The EU introduced a series of sanctions against named Russian companies and individuals in 2022, in response to that country’s invasion of Ukraine.
There are currently around 1,300 people and 120 Russian entities on an EU blacklist, along with a variety of sanctions to limit trade with Russia of various goods and services.
Assets seized as a result of those sanctions remain frozen, although European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has indicated that the Commission would like to confiscate them and use them to help finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
The plan could run into legal hurdles, as it is currently illegal for EU countries to confiscate frozen goods as a result of the sanctions. To confiscate assets and sell them, their owner must first be convicted of a crime.
An even more ambitious EU plan is to find a way to confiscate around €300 billion in reserves owned by Russia’s Central Bank, to be used to rebuild Ukraine.
State assets are protected under international law, making it especially difficult to repurpose those Russian assets without that country’s consent.
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