Shvidler (Appellant) v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Respondent)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2024/0045

Parties

Appellant(s)

Eugene Shvidler

Respondent(s)

Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

Issue

(i) Did the Court of Appeal adopt the wrong approach to determining whether the Appellant’s designation was a proportionate interference with his rights under Article 8 and Article 1, Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”)? (ii) Was the Court of Appeal wrong to conclude that maintaining the Appellant’s designation was not a breach of his rights under Article 8 and Article 1, Protocol 1 of the ECHR?

Facts

This application relates to the decision of the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (“SSFCDA”) to maintain the designation of Mr Shvidler as a sanctioned individual under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019 No 855) (the “2019 Regulations”). Mr Shvidler is a US-British dual national. He left the former USSR in 1989, renouncing his Soviet citizenship in order to do so, and moved to the USA. Mr Shvidler was subsequently granted a British visa under the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme in 2004 and was naturalised as a British citizen in 2010. Mr Shvidler has five children, all of whom are British citizens. Mr Shvidler has been friends with Roman Abramovich since 1986. From 1996 until 2005 Mr Shvidler held the roles of Vice-President for Finance and then President of Sibneft, an oil production company owned by Mr Abramovich. During this time, Mr Shvidler (along with other employees) was given a nominal shareholding in Sibneft. In 2011, Mr Shvidler was appointed to the board of Evraz plc (“Evraz”), a UK listed company with subsidiaries in various jurisdictions, including Russia. By 2018, Mr Shvidler occupied this role as a nominee of Greenlas International Holdings Limited, a BVI entity controlled by Mr Abramovich. On 10 March 2022, Mr Abramovich was designated under the 2019 Regulations. On the same day, Mr Shvidler resigned from his position as a non-executive director of Evraz and Evraz’s shares were suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange. On 5 May 2022, Evraz was designated. On 24 March 2022, Mr Shvidler was designated under the 2019 Regulations. Following inquiries, Mr Shvidler was informed that the designation was made for two reasons, namely: (i) he was a business partner of Mr Abramovich; and (ii) he was a former longstanding non-executive director of Evraz. In July 2022, Mr Shvidler sought a ministerial review of his designation, following which the designation was varied. Mr Shvidler subsequently brought a claim for statutory review under section 38(2) of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (“SAMLA”), arguing that the designation was an interference with his rights under ECHR. The Administrative Court dismissed the claim and, save with respect to one ground, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. Mr Shvidler now appeals to the Supreme Court.

Date of issue

21 March 2024

Judgment appealed

Appeal

Justices

Lord Reed

Lord Sales

Lord Leggatt

Lady Rose

Lord Richards

Hearing dates

Start date

15 January 2025

End date

15 January 2025

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