Vienna / Zagreb (OTS) - In the ruling of the General Court issued on 30. April in the case of SBK ART v. Council of the EU (T-102/23), the court left unchallenged that the sale by Sberbank of the former controlling stake in Fortenova to Sheik Alketbi was real and that the Sheik does not act as a trustee for the Russian bank. This disproves the repeated wrongful allegations raised by Fortenova and the Croatian government against the Sheik.
The Court ruled against SBK, however, because it concluded that under EU sanctions law, the transaction, which actually did take place and was completed outside of the EU, has to be ignored and blanked out as if it does not exist. In consequence, the Court based its conclusions on a fictitious set of facts, which led to the decision that the listing grounds as enacted by the EU Council are defendable.
“ This is a unique and extraordinary ruling of the General Court ”, said Gabriel Lansky who appeared in court for SBK ART. “ It endorses sanctions based upon a fictitious set of facts, as the Court believes it has to ignore a transaction which was in fact fully completed outside of Europe. This raises further serious concerns about the rule of law in EU sanctions policy .”
Philip Goeth, co-counsel, added: " It is surprising that the General Court concluded that EU law has extraterritorial effects, even though the Union keeps confirming that it does not. But even if it would have, the Court's conclusion to rule based upon fiction is highly challengeable. We shall see what the second instance has to say on this novel theory. "
SBK ART remains committed to pursuing all legal remedies and to correcting misleading narratives. A final decision will rest with the European Court of Justice.

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