Witnesses were questioned in the Federal Administrative Court in the trial over the trusteeship of two German subsidiaries of the Russian oil company Rosneft.
Managers of Rosneft Germany and a representative of the Federal Ministry of Economics testified about the company’s problems with banks and insurance companies in view of the Russian sanctions. Two managing directors who have since been released largely denied that there had been insurmountable difficulties. The representative of the Federal Ministry of Economics, on the other hand, reported ongoing problems with payment processing and with insurers.
The two daughters Rosneft Germany and RN Refining
Last September they were placed under trusteeship by the Federal Network Agency. The federal government justified this step with an imminent threat to security of supply as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine. Rosneft considers the trust administration’s order to be illegal and has filed a complaint with the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.
One of the two managing directors, Jörg Tumat, testified that Rosneft Germany had difficulties with banks and insurance companies, but these were particularly acute in March 2022. Payments were delayed, there were uncertainties about the sanctions. In the summer of 2022, however, he believed that the problems were no longer threatening. “In many cases we continued to work together,” said the 53-year-old, who became head of the German Rosneft subsidiary in mid-May last year. Rosneft Germany was managed “quite independently”. The managers were released from the start of the trusteeship.
Federal Ministry of Economics: “Again and again new problems”
According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, the situation was much more dramatic. “From the impression I got, there were always new problems. If you extinguished one place, the fire kindled elsewhere,” said the ministry representative as a witness.
Rosneft Germany was looking for new partner banks because the actual house bank wanted to withdraw. An industrial insurer of the PCK refinery also wanted to jump off; this issue was only clarified after the start of the trusteeship.
The Federal Administrative Court is responsible for the Rosneft lawsuit in the first and last instance. Two weeks ago there was a first day of negotiations. When a decision should be made is still open. The hearing is scheduled to continue on Wednesday with more witness interviews.
