The Dutch authorities did not receive any request or issue any clearance for the transaction relating to the sale of the Russian bank Sberbank's stake in Fortenova Group, the State Secretary at the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Frano Matusic, said on Friday.

Croatian integrated market communications agency Millennium Promocija said on Wednesday evening that Saif Alketbi of the United Arab Emirates had purchased a 43.4 percent stake in the Dutch holding Fortenova Group, the sole shareholder in the Zagreb-based Fortenova Grupa d.d., and that the transaction was closed on Monday, October 31.

Fortenova Grupa d.d. immediately responded, saying it had no knowledge of the sale of Sberbank’s stake. The next day, the Croatian government said it had no official knowledge and had not been involved in the transaction.

Matusic said that the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs had responded to the query from the Croatian Ministry, saying that the Dutch authorities had not received any request or issued any approval for the transaction.

“The transfer of ownership cannot be done without the approval of the competent authorities of the Netherlands, and we believe of Croatia as well. We consider this transaction illegal and inconsistent with the sanctions regime, because Sberbank’s assets have been frozen as it is included on the EU sanctions list. Any use of these assets, or their sale, would require approval from the authorities of the countries which are competent for such transactions. This means the Dutch authorities and, in our opinion, the Croatian authorities, because the assets are in Croatia,” Matusic said.

He pointed out that no clearance to that effect had been issued by the Croatian authorities either.

“No one requested such approval from us nor did we know about this until the transaction happened, and we could not have such information,” he added.

Matusic said he wonders how the Croatian authorities could have even known about a transaction from a country that is under sanctions and which has declared Croatia a hostile nation.

“On the other hand, there is this UAE national, a private individual who apparently paid 500 million euro for something for which he did not even request due diligence, who does not know what this company does and who did not seek any contact with the company or its co-owners,” he said.

Speaking of the sanctions regime, Matusic said that both Sberbank’s assets and property rights are currently frozen. Transactions could have been made by October 31, but only with the explicit approval of the authorities of the countries competent for this transaction.

Matusic said that the UAE national had not contacted any of the Croatian authorities, including the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA), banks, or the Ministry of Finance.

He said that Croatia had received notification from Sberbank that the transaction had been carried out, and that the entry in the commercial register shows that Saif Alketbi has become the owner of Sberbank’s stake in Fortenova.

Croatia does not have information  on whether this transaction was indeed done, which is a matter between the legal person and Sberbank, Matusic said, adding that it will not suffer any consequences for the transfer of stocks because they do not have the necessary approvals from the Dutch and Croatian authorities.