The yacht Dilbar, which is believed to belong to Gulbakhor Ismailova, the sister of sanctioned Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, has not been seized, but cannot be used, the press service of the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) told Sputnik on Thursday
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2022) The yacht Dilbar, which is believed to belong to Gulbakhor Ismailova, the sister of sanctioned Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, has not been seized, but cannot be used, the press service of the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) told Sputnik on Thursday.
At the end of March, a working group consisting of specialists of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the Ministry of Finance began tracking down Russian assets that had been placed under EU sanctions.
On Wednesday, the BKA press office said the agency had identified the owner of the Dilbar yacht, Gulbakhor Ismailova, who the agency considers to be Usmanov's sister.
"On April 8, 2022, the owner of the yacht M/S Dilbar was placed under the EU sanctions in accordance with the EU regulations. Thus, the luxury yacht M/S Dilbar falls under the sanctions and can be legally anchored or frozen in Hamburg," the BKA press service said in a statement.
At the same time, the yacht was not seized or arrested by the German authorities, the police office stated. It is instead a freezing of economic resources, which entails the prevention of use, including selling, leasing, the pledging of asset as security, and even disposing of it. All of these bans apply to the sanctioned individuals or entities and to "all other individuals, entities, or government agencies involved in the matter," the agency noted.
Earlier in the day, the Hamburg Ministry of Economic Affairs and Innovation rejected the claim that the Dilbar yacht had been seized, the Spigel newspaper said. This statement came after Forbes published an article claiming that the boat was confiscated in Hamburg.
