Sanctions are removed from companies that have been owned or partially held by Russian businessman, and alleged oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, the Treasury Department’s financial intelligence and enforcement agency said Sunday, following agreements with the companies for “unprecedented transparency” through auditing and other actions.
In a release, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that Sunday it “delisted” three companies – the En+ Group plc (“En+”), UC Rusal plc (“Rusal”), and JSC EuroSibEnergo (“ESE”) – from the agency’s “List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons” (SDN List). The change in status for the companies, OFAC said, followed an earlier notification submitted to Congress Dec. 19.
OFAC said under the terms of their removal from the agency’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (“SDN List”), En+, Rusal, and ESE have reduced Deripaska’s direct and indirect shareholding stake in their companies and severed his control.
“This action ensures that the majority of directors on the En+ and Rusal boards will be independent directors – including U.S. and European persons – who have no business, professional, or family ties to Deripaska or any other SDN, and that independent U.S. persons vote a significant bloc of the shares of En+,” OFAC said.
The law enforcement agency also said the three firms have agreed to undertake “extensive, ongoing auditing, certification and reporting requirements – which OFAC termed “unprecedented transparency.”
Additionally, OFAC said, all existing sanctions on Deripaska continue in force.