Two more Lithuania-based companies may be placed under administration due to EU sanctions on Russian, says the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT).
One company, the phosphate fertiliser producer Lifosa, has so far been the only company put under temporary administration after sanctions on its Russian owners threatened its operations.
“The Finance Ministry has thus far asked us to provide a broader evaluation. However, one has already been placed under temporary administration and we also have similar intentions in relation to two more companies,” Mindaugas Petrauskas, deputy head of the FNTT, said.
Fourteen companies in Lithuania have already seen their funds and shares frozen under the existing EU sanctions on Russia and Belarus.
Petrauskas would not specify the companies that might be placed under temporary administration.
He explained that, based on the criteria set out by the government, an interim administrator might be appointed for companies if more than 10 million euros of their assets had been frozen as a result of sanctions, if they had a workforce of at least 500 people, or if interrupting their activities could pose economic, social or environmental risks.
The list of companies that had their assets and shares frozen in Lithuania also includes Inter RAO Lietuva, an electricity supplier and its subsidiary Vydmantai Wind Park, IDS Borjomi Europe, a mineral water supplier, BMZ-Baltija, a metal product supplier, Eurochem Logistics International, a logistics company, Faberlic Baltija, EM System, EM Idustry, Amkodor Baltic, PhosAgro Baltic, TT Baltics, Juru Laivybos Registras and SUEK Baltic, a subsidiary of Russia’s SUEK. (LRT/Business World Magazine)