Judge rules freezing of Iran’s EU assets legal

EghtesadOnline: A judge at Luxembourg's district court has reportedly ruled that a last year verdict to freeze the assets of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in the country was legal.

News ID: ۷۷۴۸۹۴

25 March 2017

What initiated the freezing of more than $1.6 billion of CBI assets at Clearance securities depository in Luxembourg was a legal bid by the US to seek compensation from Iran for the victims of 9/11 and their families over the country’s alleged role in the terror attacks, PressTV reported.

Washington claims that Iran helped the al-Qaeda terrorist group in conducting the attacks. Iran has repeatedly rejected the allegation and has also rejected US bid to seek compensations through freezing CBI assets in Europe as “completely unlawful”.

A report by the German-language Luxemburger Wort newspaper said that the judge – whom has not been identified - had in a summary proceeding ruled that the CBI assets could remain frozen for the time being, awaiting the judgment of the 'procédure de validation' (validation procedure).

It added that it would be determined later whether the money could legally go to the US families claiming the damages on the grounds of Luxembourgish law.

The Iranian assets were frozen through a so-called 'saisie-arrêt', which allows for the money to be frozen provisionally without transferring it to the plaintiff, the Luxemburger Wort wrote in its report.

A 'procédure de validation' and a so-called 'exequatur' will determine whether there are sufficient grounds, based on Luxembourgish law, to make the US ruling valid in Luxembourg, it added.

The Iranian central bank and Clearstream had the right to ask the 'référé'-judge to rule that the freezing of the assets was illegal in an expedited ruling.

The judge, however, ruled that the 'saisie-arrêt' was lawful.

The Iranian central bank and Clearstream have two weeks to appeal, the Luxemburger Wort further wrote.