European Court of Justice Rejects Request to Continue Seizure of Bank Mellat's Assets

The European Court of Justice ruled on Thursday, February 17, that the assets of Bank Mellat should not have been seized since 2010 and rejected the European Council's appeal in this regard. The European Union, comprising 28 member states, had placed Bank Mellat on its sanctions list in 2010, accusing it of aiding the financing of Iran's nuclear program, and subsequently froze its assets. The EU had claimed that Bank Mellat supported and financed the Islamic Republic's missile and nuclear programs. In 2011, Bank Mellat filed a complaint against the EU's decision at the General Court of the EU, which ruled in favor of Bank Mellat a year later, stating that the EU had not provided sufficient evidence of Bank Mellat's collaboration with Iran's nuclear program. However, the EU sought to appeal the ruling and continue the seizure of Bank Mellat's assets. Now, the European Court of Justice has upheld the General Court's ruling, deeming the EU's decision 'illegal' and stating: 'Since all actions related to Bank Mellat have been declared void, its assets should not have been seized between July 26, 2010 (the first date of asset seizure) and January 16, 2016 (when the sanctions were lifted).' The EU requested a review of the General Court's ruling in April 2013, but the case took until February of this year to be resolved in the European Court of Justice. This comes as the EU lifted sanctions against Iran in January this year in line with the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers. According to the Associated Press, Bank Mellat's lawyer stated that the ruling of the European Court of Justice would pave the way for legal action regarding compensation and rehabilitation. Ali Divandari, the former CEO of Bank Mellat, had previously mentioned the General Court's ruling, stating: 'The court also obliged the EU to pay court costs including legal expert fees, litigation, lawyers, etc., and recognized Bank Mellat's right to claim damages resulting from these sanctions from the EU and to file the necessary lawsuit in court.' Bank Mellat, which had previously been removed from the UK's sanctions list, has submitted a claim for $3.98 billion in damages to the UK's High Court. As a result of the EU sanctions, Bank Mellat was denied access to SWIFT services for four years, which has now been restored since February 14 of this year.