A Russian court has ordered the seizure of 51.8 million euros ($56 million) of assets from Germany’s Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (LBBW), court filings showed, in a lawsuit related to an aborted gas project.
LBBW, which declined to comment, was one of the guarantor lenders under a contract for the construction of a gas processing plant in Russia with Germany’s Linde, which was terminated due to Western sanctions.
When the project was halted, St Petersburg-based RusChemAlliance, a joint venture that is 50% owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom, had made a 2 billion euro advance payment on the 10 billion euro contract, according to Britain’s Supreme Court website.
RusChemAlliance has filed similar suits against Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and Italy’s UniCredit.
that’s normal. if they didn’t get their money out of a sanctioned hostile country, this i what happens. those banks knew that. some maybe couldn’t get their money out, others maybe took the risk gambling they can continue their projects after/during the war. the latter deserve a slap on the wrist.
LBBW is owned by
The Ländthe state of Baden-Württemberg. I.e., some of the money seized is tax money or at least public money. I think that’s why it’s newsworthy.