Zaiwalla & Co. London, helps Iranian Bank clear itself. the General Court of the European Union ruled that there was no evidence to justify the European Council’s decision to list Bank Mellat under its Iran sanctions list. The European Council had in 2010 included Bank Mellat, Iran’s largest private bank, on its ‘blacklist’ of designated entities presumed to be involved with Iran’s nuclear proliferation programme.
This ruling will have huge significance around the world. Economic sanctions have been widely employed as tools of international politics for decades. Many institutions, banks and other, for many countries including Iran have suffered serious consequences as a result.
EU Council had listed Bank Mellat on the basis that it is a state owned entity (even though state ownership was only 20%) involved with the nuclear proliferation project in Iran. The Bank was one of several Iranian Banks that were included by the EU Council on the blacklist in a policy move that was designed to put pressure on the Iranian financial sector.
The Bank had challenged this listing on the basis that it is not a state owned bank and the EU Council has no evidence of any wrongdoing or links with Iran’s nuclear programme on the part of the bank.
Sarosh Zaiwalla, of law firm Zaiwalla & Co who acted for Bank Mellat before the European Court, welcomed the decision for his client, saying “The European Court of Justice has concluded that fairness and the rule of law are more important than temporary political objectives. Bank Mellat is a private bank, and the Council of the European Union has provided no evidence for justifying its sanctions. Bank Mellat should never have suffered simply because it happens to be based in a country of whose government the EU disapproves.”
This listing has resulted in an asset freeze on all the Banks assets in the European Union and the bank’s international trade has effectively been suspended for 3 years. The sanctions have harmed the Bank’s private interests, which is not the purpose of sanctions in the first place. Bank Mellat is expected to claim substantial damages against the Council of European States for its unlawful listing.
The Bank’s win gives a clear message from the Court that European Institutions do not have the unfettered discretion to impose sanctions on whomsoever they like. This win reminds the institutions that they too are subject to the rule of law, which provides that the imposition of sanctions upon and individual or entity requires evidence.
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