How Gazprom Tried To Save Its Romanian Companies From International Sanctions. Aut reaction

Although the Russians tried to avoid sanctions by transferring assets, ANAF thwarted their plans and pushed them into bankruptcy.

They bought a company from a former Moldovan minister

Gazprom entered Romania in 2013, when Gazpromneft Marine Bunker LLC from the Russian Federation bought the company Marine Bunker Balkan (established in 2011) from Constanța from Unicom in Constanța (owned by Constantin Iavorski, former Minister of Energy in the Republic of Moldova) .

The company, which carried out bunkering activities in the Black Sea (that is, supplying fuel to ships), is renamed Gazpromneft Marine Bunker Balkan by the Russians.

In 2020, another Gazprom company (with only 0.0229%), GPN – Proiect Ltd., will join the Constanta company.

A year later, the Russian shareholders decide to split Gazpromneft Marine Bunker Balkan by transferring part of the assets to the newly established Balkan Marine Bunker Assets, a company founded in the same year by GPN Foreign Assets Management LLC from St. Petersburg (also owned by Gazprom).

ANAF confiscated one million euros

Starting in 2014, after the illegal occupation of Crimea, the imposition of the first international sanctions against Russia and implicitly against Gazprom, pushed the Russians to do the same in other countries where they operate.

The transfer consisted of the Unicom 3 oil tank, the deltaOil barge and the equipment related to the two vessels. The market value of these assets was over 4.5 million lei.

In exchange for assets, Balkan Marine Bunker Assets issued shares that became the possession of Gazpromneft Marine Bunker Balkan shareholders.

Later, in February 2022, Russian associates Gazpromneft Marine Bunker LLC and GPN – Proiect LTD sold the same shares to the newest Russian entrant in the combination, GPN Foreign Assets Management LLC.

This ping-pong had the role of somehow sheltering the assets in Romania, being moved to a more recently established Russian entity.

Immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine, in March 2022, ANAF confiscated one million euros from Gazprom companies in Constanța.

ANAF’s decision was based on the transfer of assets between companies patronized by Russians, an action considered prohibited in the context of the sanctions imposed against the Kremlin and companies in which the Russian state is a shareholder, thus also Gazprom companies.

Following the control, ANAF Antifraud ordered the application of a contravention fine of 30,000 lei, as well as the confiscation of over 4.5 million lei, representing the market value of the transferred assets. Both Romanian companies of Gazpromneft immediately challenged the fine and confiscation in court, demanding the return of the money.

In their defense, the Russians interpret the phrase “securities” in the EU sanctions under which their money was seized to refer to listed shares, not any kind of equity. They argued that none of the firms involved in the transfer are listed on any capital market.

After their arguments were rejected in a first instance, several deadlines followed. At the last meeting of the Constanța Court, held on April 26, the court rejected the complaint filed by Balkan Marine Bunker Assets requesting the return to the previous situation and the return of the fine as unfounded, with the right to appeal within 30 days.

In the other lawsuit opened by Gazpromneft Marine Bunker Balkan against ANAF, the judges at the Constanța Court postponed the ruling until May.

In the meantime, several entities have gathered at the credal table that have important sums of money to recover from the companies patronized by the Russians.

Photo: Shutterstock

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