The High Court of London has rejected a claim of the Belarusian Dana Astra IOOO for the lifting of sanctions against the company. The company was considered to be connected to Serbian citizens, brothers Dragomir and Bogoljub Karic, who are closely connected with Lukashenko and his family.
The UK imposed sanctions on Dana Astra in 2019, based on the company’s involvement in suppressing civil society or democratic opposition, and the company being the sole private sponsor of the National Olympic Committee.
The court’s materials state that Dana Astra is registered and operates in Belarus, with its parent company registered in Cyprus. However, the registration has recently been transferred to the UAE.
Dana Astra engages in construction, and its largest project in Minsk is Minsk World, a large multifunctional project covering more than 3 million square meters. The construction cost is estimated at $3.5 billion.
According to the court documents, restrictive measures were taken against the company because it had been involved in repressing civil society or the democratic opposition in Belarus or other actions or policies that undermined democracy or the rule of law in that country, namely as the sponsor of the Belarusian National Olympic Committee.
The company stated that it is not a beneficiary or supporter of the Belarusian government, and on the contrary, it is subject to harsh sanctions and repressive treatment from the Belarusian authorities because it is considered a foreign company.
However, the court decided that the restrictions imposed on it by the Belarus authorities relate to its shareholders who are registered in an unfriendly state to Belarus, such as Cyprus, rather than because the company itself was considered “unfriendly”.
Prior to the decision of the London High Court, one of the company’s founders, Bogolyub Karic, had attempted to challenge the EU sanctions imposed on him. In 2024, the European Court of Justice refused to lift sanctions against him.
The materials presented in court showed that the owner of a company from the United Arab Emirates who bought the Dana Holdings structure was a close friend of the Karic family. According to a statement by the businessman’s son from May 9, 2023, despite the supposed change in ownership of Dana Holdings, Karic’s son remained the ultimate beneficiary of that company.
