German police conduct another raid on sanctioned Uzbek-Russian oligarch's property

German police, tax investigators and customs agents have carried out a raid on a villa belonging to an unnamed Russian individual on October 5, subject to EU sanctions and asset seizures.

As reported by the Deutsche Welle, some 30 investigators were involved in the raid and added that the villa in the Southern state of Bavaria was not their only target, with other raids also carried out at other properties owned by the same sanctioned Russian. Officials confirmed that the unnamed individual is subject to EU sanctions in connection to Moscow's invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.

According to EU laws, all assets held by a sanctioned individual are to be frozen and may not be transferred or disposed of.

While the German customs authorities did not provide any information on the identity of the sanctioned individual, Reuters reported that according to their sources, the raid was targeting the Uzbek-Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov.

The billionaire, who has generated his wealth in metal and mining activities which he later invested into telecommunications and IT, had already been a target of German raids in September 2022 when his holiday villa was searched but a court later deemed the raid to have been unlawful.

A spokesperson for Usmanov told Reuters that "there can be no reason for suspicion against Mr Usmanov, who has always duly declared the personal property that was lawfully acquired by him, in addition to disclosing the funds with which he acquired these assets". He added, that he was not the owner of the trust he founded and owned no control over its assets, which include the German houses targeted in the current raid.