(1) Dalston Projects Limited and others (appellants) v The Secretary of State for Transport (respondent) (2) Shvidler (appellant) v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (respondent)

Wednesday 17 – Friday 19 January 2024

(1) The Appellants appeal the order of Sir Ross Cranston of 21 July 2023 by which he dismissed the Appellants’ statuary review (bought pursuant to s.38 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018) and ordered costs in favour of the Respondent.

The Appellants sought to challenge the lawfulness of the Respondent’s decision, pursuant to the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to detain a luxury yacht which is beneficially owned by a wealthy businessman. It was argued that the Respondent acted for an improper purpose and in breach of the ECHR.

(2) The Appellant appeals the order of Garnham J of 18 August 2023 by which he dismissed the Application for an order setting aside his designation under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2029 and ordered costs in favour of the Respondent.

The Applicant is a UK-US dual national. He moved from the former Soviet Union to the USA in 1989. He has never been a Russian Citizen and has not visited Russia since 2007. On 24 March 2022 he was designated by the Secretary of State pursuant to Reg 5 of the Regulations on the basis that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that he was an “involved person”. On 11 November 2022 the grounds were varies following a Ministerial review. The Applicant is now designated on two grounds.

View hearing:

Day 1

Part 1

Part 2

Day 2

Part 1

Part 2

Day 3

Part 1

Part 2