The company, located in the village of Skoposheni in the commune of Gorban, Iasi County, worked with some companies owned by Oleksiy Mordashov, the president of Russia’s largest metallurgical and mining company, whose fortune is estimated at $20.8 billion and is on the EU Sanctions list, writes Ziarul de Iasi. ANAF fined the Romanian transport company 30,000 lei, a measure challenged in court.

A company from a village in Yass County would contract for two shipments of goods from companies owned by Oleksiy Mordashov, a close associate of Vladimir Putin, who is considered Russia’s richest oligarch.

The goods were transported from Russia to the Republic of Moldova, initially through Romania, ProTV News reports.

A transport company from Iasi would collect $9,200 to deliver a shipment of plywood to the Republic of Moldova, a shipment from two companies controlled by an EU-sanctioned group.

ANAF found out about the business and fined the transport company 30,000 lei, a measure challenged in court by representatives of the company from Iasi, who claim they were unaware of the existence of links between the two contractor firms and the Russian oligarch.

They also motivated this by the fact that the sanction against Mordashov was not posted on the ANAF website at the time the company concluded the deal.

The Răducăneni judges found that the Romanian state had an obligation to disclose to interested parties all available information regarding the commercial ties of persons on the sanctions lists before imposing sanctions, and annulled the fine imposed by ANAF.

The tax office appealed, but the deadline has not yet been set.

Who is Oleksiy Mordashov?

Oleksiy Mordashov has been sanctioned by several governments and authorities, including the European Union and Great Britain.

Mordashov owns Russia’s largest steel company and has investments in travel giant Tui and Bank Rossiya, the “personal bank” of high-ranking Russian officials who benefited from the annexation of Crimea.

According to the rating of CEO Biz, Oleksiy Mordashov ranks 6th in the top ten richest people in Russia.

Italian authorities have seized a huge property worth about 116 million dollars on the island of Sardinia linked to Russian oligarch Oleksii Mordashov, Reuters reports.

In early March, authorities also seized his mega-yacht, the Lady M, at the Port of Empire.