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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Sara Odeen-Isbister

Oligarch's £340m superyacht once owned by Roman Abramovich is seized

A £340 million superyacht boasting its own submarine and once owned by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been seized in Germany.

The Azerbaijani oligarch-owned luxury vessel is not allowed to leave the Port of Hamburg where its moored, as a result of sanctions put in place targeting those that support Vladimir Putin's regime.

According to Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, the Liechtenstein Trust is listed as the owner of the boat, called The Luna, and a network of documents seen by police show businessman Farkhad Akhmedov is behind the trust.

The gas tycoon is a former representative in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation - the upper house of the Russian parliament - and lived and worked in London from 1986 to 1994.

Chelsea FC's former owner Roman Abramovich used to own the boat (AFP via Getty Images)

Akhmedov, who hit headlines last year during a high profile £450 million divorce battle with his London-based ex wife Tatiana, has reportedly denied being its current owner and has also denied being close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He has been on the EU sanctions list since the beginning of April. Forbes recently estimated his fortune at around USD 1.4 billion (GBP 1.15 billion).

The yacht - which boasts nine decks, a huge swimming pool and a small submarine -must now remain in the port until further notice.

The Luna was first bought by Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich in 2010.

A security guard watches from a deck of The Luna superyacht (Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Until recently, Germany was lagging behind other countries in chasing oligarchs' fortunes.

At the beginning of April, the sum of funds frozen in the country amounted to just EUR 125 million (GBP 108 million).But the country has since made swift progress, with the amount now believed to total around EUR 1 billion (GBP 861 million).

The Luna is now the second oligarch vessel to be frozen in the Port of Hamburg by the Federal Criminal Police Office.

The first was the world's largest superyacht Dilbar, which belongs to the sanctioned sister of Uzbek-born Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov.

The yacht, called Dilbar was registered to a holding company in Malta and is 512ft long.

Dilibar was launched in 2016 and is reported to be worth $648million (£493million).

The extravagant deck features an 80ft pool and it has space for two helipads.

Economic sanctions were imposed against Mr Usmanov over his connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin and in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

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