The national government has failed to freeze Dutch real estate belonging to a Russian businessman on the European sanctions list after the entrepreneur reported himself to a ministry.
On September 1, lawyers on behalf of Arkady Volozj reported the possession of his mansion in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark. According to a commissioner of the Yandex company founded by Volozh, the Russian wanted to abide by the rules.
Only after a publication in NRC a ‘note’ appeared in the Land Registry this week, which makes it clear that the government has intervened.
Officially, the property was purchased by a Virgin Islands company
Volozj bought his mansion in Vossiusstraat in two parts, in 2018 and 2019. Since June this year, his name has been on the European sanctions list.
The Dutch officials did not find the building under their own power. According to the official papers, it was purchased by a company in the British Virgin Islands.
At the beginning of September, lawyers from the DLA Piper office sent an email on behalf of Volozh to the email address [email protected]. In it they listed his Dutch possessions: the two parts of the house on Vossiusstraat and a minority interest in Yandex, a Russian internet company founded by Volozh and which is based in the Netherlands on paper.
A day later, the lawyers received an acknowledgment of receipt from the Ministry of Finance, which has been acknowledged by NRC.
Wrong counter, sir
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not forwarded the information, while that ministry coordinates enforcement of the sanctions in the Netherlands. The Ministry of the Interior, which maintains a real estate listing, NRC at the end of September they also did not receive a signal from the Ministry of Finance.
Only since October 5 – two days after NRC about the property – Volozh’s mansion bears the stamp ‘frozen’. “It took a little longer to get the information to us because the sanctioned person reported his property at the wrong counter,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.
“That’s strange,” says Rogier Rijnja on behalf of Yandex. “The Ministry of Finance says: we have received the message and forwarded it. As a citizen you cannot know that you have been at the wrong counter.” Rijnja emphasizes that he does not speak on behalf of Volozh but on behalf of Yandex. The Russian resigned as chairman of Yandex after being on the sanctions list.
Now that the property has been frozen, Volozh will no longer be allowed to sell or rent his mansion until he is off the sanctions list. Even having a contractor or plumber come over for renovation or maintenance is not allowed.