IN SHORT:
- Pjotr Avens, a Latvian citizen, is included in the list of sanctions.
- Avens acquired citizenship because of a special reception.
- The Latvian authorities do not accept the seizure of Avena’s property if they do not belong to him as an individual.
The proud Klauģi manor in the Madona region, a house in the center of Riga, a helicopter that took the Pope himself – these properties, which are owned in part or in part by Aven, were not arrested by the Latvian authorities during the whole working week.
Aven has received a special welcome to acquire Latvian citizenship
The week when Pyotr Avens, a Latvian citizen, was included in the list of international sanctions for supporting activities that threaten Ukraine’s independence, it is worth recalling how he acquired citizenship. As early as May 2021, De Facto reported that possible corruption related to Avena’s citizenship in 2016 was investigated but not detected by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB). However, the office concluded that Aven had been specially welcomed.
In the case related to Avena’s meeting with citizenship, the conversations of businessman Guntis Rāvis with the politician Edgars Jaunups (for the Development of Latvia), who in turn further communicated with the then head of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs Vilnis Jēkabsons, are shown by the KNAB’s decision to terminate the proceedings. In conversations with Rāvis from Jaunupa, it is said that someone should “give a tithe”, while he is planning to clash with Jēkabson to drink tea. However, all corruption was denied by all involved, both in the KNAB and in public.
This week, Edgars Jaunups publicly stated that he now regretted advising Aven during his acquisition of citizenship, as he had turned out to be part of Putin’s system.
“My involvement in this process was purely consultative, I did not receive any compensation for it, I was asked for advice, I did not refuse it. And the only money mentioned in the talks in this regard was related to the attraction of public relations specialists, which his friends in Latvia considered necessary for Avena’s publicity. I understand that this is a question where I have to ask you to trust me, but it is true, “Jaunups said in a Facebook post.
However, the KNAB decision does not show that during the interrogation Jaunups said anything about public relations. Even in a conversation with a “de facto” politician about a “ten” a year ago, this was a purely theoretical version. “Or in some long conversation I have had with Mr. Ravja, where here you quote me 5 or 10 seconds from that conversation – that conversation may have lasted an hour – among other things, maybe about another thing in general, maybe, as I said, there was a phrase about money for some of the crisis communication issues that were being prepared at the time – I do not rule out. Again, is this illegal? No! My conviction is that if a person like this, Peter Avens, acquires citizenship, it is worth thinking about crisis communication. Because it’s normal, a media thing and the like. I also said this, sharing my experience and understanding, that I think it is wise. As far as I remember, they chose not to do so, not to take any preventive public action on this issue. Well, well! ” last May, presented Jaunups.
Delays in seizure of property
The political debate over whether Aven should be deprived of his citizenship has now materialized, but at least for now. Avens also does not comment on the topic of citizenship, who this week publicly said that he was surprised and humiliated by the loss of the highest Latvian state award. Everything must be done to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, Avens said, but did not mention Vladimir Putin, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, or his responsibility for starting the war.
It is also unknown that Avens resisted the war on the first day of a meeting with the Kremlin’s host, along with several other businessmen.
Avens has been named one of Putin’s closest oligarchs on the European Union’s sanctions list, actively providing material or financial support to and benefiting from Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine. He promises to challenge these allegations in court, but until then all his assets in the European Union will be frozen.
The practical application of the sanctions imposed on Aven and others in Latvia is coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the Financial Intelligence Service (FID) also has a role to play. Paulis Ilyenkov, Deputy Head of the Strategic Analysis Division of the FID, said: “We proactively collected all these sanctions, all natural and legal persons, and sent them to all institutions involved in the Sanctions Coordination Council. Including those institutions which maintain the relevant registers: the Register of Enterprises in respect of shares in companies, the Court Administration in respect of immovable property data in the Land Register, the Civil Aviation Agency in respect of aircraft, the Maritime Administration in respect of ships. … And if they find that the tangible or intangible item entered in the register, including immovable property, belongs to an authorized person, the alienation, sale or change of ownership of the item shall be prohibited. ‘
If Latvian banks are able to freeze accounts for sanctioned persons quite quickly, it turned out otherwise with real estate and aircraft. This is evidenced by the example of Avena, said “De facto”. The most famous properties of Avena in Latvia are Klauģi manor in Madona region, which has been shown in design magazines, and in Rīga, Krišjāņa Valdemāra Street 19, a recently purchased house, where Avens planned to build a museum of Latvian and Russian art.
The property around the Big and Small Klauģi Lakes legally consists of several plots of land. Although sanctions were imposed on Monday, only 11 hectares of forest were only banned on Friday. The exclusive manor houses with the land around them were not arrested. Probably because the authorities acted very formally, seizing the plot of land where Aven’s name appears, for which the right to build has been established.
The other plots of land belong to Aven through a multi-level scheme – a chain of Latvian companies, where Aven’s Cypriot company “Abacus (Cyprus) Limited” ends.
The same Cypriot company is the 50 percent owner of SIA Country Heli – the second intermediate co-owner is the Russian businessman Yuri Sheffler, who is also listed as the sole beneficiary of the Ltd. Sheffler is not on the sanctions list. Country Heli rents its own Bell 429 helicopter. Juris Sitko, a member of the company’s board, who de facto claims to have retired, admits that the lease is mainly for himself, namely Sheffler and Aven. There have also been commercial flights – for example, Pope Francis took a helicopter from Aglona to Riga, which was once bought for 7.5 million US dollars.
Although it actually turns out that half of that helicopter belongs to Aven, the Civil Aviation Agency only found out about it after a ‘de facto’ question. No de facto explanation has yet been given as to whether it will be seized.
The former bank building in Riga, Valdemāra Street, where Avens wanted to show his porcelain collection, has not been arrested either. The house is owned by the Aven Foundation, the founder and beneficiary of which is Avens.
The Regulation of the Council of the European Union states that all resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled by the authorized persons or the natural or legal persons, entities or bodies associated with them shall be frozen. Consequently, the fact that Klauģi manor and the future museum had not been arrested for several days could be explained by the lack of experience of the Latvian authorities in such a situation. Informally, there are reassuring words that nothing crazy can happen – Avens cannot sell these properties because his structural accounts with Latvian banks are not working.
Avena’s long-term partner at Alfa-Bank, Mikhail Friedman, who resides in London and has not been blacklisted, is also on the European Union’s sanctions list. In Latvia, sanctions have hit him quite painfully – accounts have been frozen for Friedman through the Cypriot company SIA Seagull Investments. This company has recently completed the Sea-Breeze project in Majori, Majori, where apartments have been built in the former sanatorium building. One of them has been bought by Friedman himself for more than 5 million euros. Of the 17 apartments, three were sold – it will not be possible to sell the rest for at least some time.
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