LONDON (Reuters) -Ukrainian-Russian businessman German Khan’s wife on Friday lost her appeal to overturn British sanctions imposed on her following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a ruling that maintains the UK’s 100% record of defending sanctions challenges.
Britain slapped sanctions on Anzhelika Khan in April 2022 after taking similar measures a month earlier against her husband, German, who co-founded investment group LetterOne and whose net worth Forbes estimates at $8.8 billion.
She argued that the sanctions were unlawful because she had no involvement in Russian politics and held no influence over the Russian government.
Her case was dismissed last February. The Court of Appeal on Friday rejected Khan’s appeal against that ruling.
Judge Rabinder Singh said in a written ruling that he did not accept an argument from Khan’s lawyer that there was no rational connection between Khan being sanctioned and its purpose.
The ruling comes after a similar challenge by billionaire oil tycoon Eugene Shvidler, whose appeal against British sanctions was the first case of its kind to reach the UK’s Supreme Court last week.
Britain’s Foreign Office has overseen the sanctioning of more than 1,700 individuals or entities since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The courts have in previous cases emphasised the importance of the political aims of the sanctions regime, an argument the Foreign Office made to the Supreme Court in Shvidler’s case.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)
