As reported by FT, Germany’s Frankfurt am Main Regional Court has revoked and invalidated four search warrants issued as part of a criminal investigation against Uzbek-Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov for alleged law violations in Germany. The prosecutor general’s office calls further investigations into question.
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UK, US and EU-sanctioned Alisher Usmanov is under investigation for tax evasion, sanctions violations and money laundering in Germany. The search warrants were issued by the Frankfurt am Main District Court in September 2022 in relation to two properties in Bavaria; the Dilbar motor yacht in a port in northern Germany; and a private apartment in a town near Frankfurt am Main. Shortly thereafter, German law enforcement officials carried out large-scale searches with the involvement of dozens of police and investigative officers, which caused a major stir in the German media.
However, in May 2023, the Frankfurt Regional Court found that in all cases, the search warrants were issued with gross legal deficiencies and failed to provide “the minimum requirements for the definition of the crime being investigated”.
Berliner Zeitung previously reported that a judge at the Frankfurt District Court allegedly refused to sign a search warrant issued by the public prosecutor’s office at the first attempt. These documents then were signed by another judge. However, now they have been overturned by the higher court and questions may arise in relation to the judge who agreed the warrants.
As the major German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung points out “for the German criminal investigators, Usmanov’s victory naturally means an ignominious defeat”. Germany’s prosecutor general’s office spokesman said, whether and how the investigation will continue is now being examined.
“The decision of the Frankfurt Regional Court reaffirmed our client’s trust in Germany as a functioning constitutional state,” Alisher Usmanov’s lawyers commented. They are convinced that this decision should offer food for thought … to everyone who contributed to creating a prejudiced view towards their client throughout entire Germany”. The lawyers, who represent the Uzbek embassy in Germany, Peter Gauweiler and Thomas Fischer, said the court’s decisions confirmed that the proceedings were “not objectively justified but . . . rather politically motivated” and they expect that the German government would now “compensate for damage resulting from these unlawful investigative measures”.
The Frankfurt court’s decision doesn’t not automatically mean that the preliminary proceedings are over, insists Germany’s prosecutor general’s office spokesman.
