Oligarch’s £340million superyacht once owned by Roman Abramovich is seized – World News

The nine-deck luxury boat is now owned by an Azerbaijani oligarch who is a former member of Russia’s parliament – although he reportedly denies ownership

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

The luxury ship owned by Azerbaijani oligarchs is not allowed to leave the port of Hamburg where it is moored as sanctions have been imposed on those supporting Vladimir Putin’s regime.

According to the German Federal Criminal Police Office, the Liechtenstein Trust is listed as the owner of the boat, named The Luna, and a network of documents seen by police show that businessman Farkhad Achmedov is behind the trust.

The gas magnate is a former member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation – the upper house of the Russian parliament – and lived and worked in London from 1986 to 1994.

Akhmedov, who made headlines last year during a high-profile £450million 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 stand.

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

The yacht – with nine decks, a huge swimming pool and a small submarine – must now remain in port until further notice.

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

Until recently, Germany lagged behind other countries when it came to chasing after the oligarchs.

At the beginning of April, the total amount of funds frozen in the country was just 125 million euros (£108 million). Since then, however, the country has made rapid progress and the amount is now estimated at around 1 billion euros (£861 million).

The Luna is now the second oligarch ship frozen by the Federal Criminal Police Office in the port of Hamburg.

The first was the world’s largest superyacht Dilbar, owned by the sanctioned sister of Uzbekistan-born Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov.

The yacht, named Dilbar, was registered with a holding company in Malta and is 512 feet long.

Launched in 2016, Dilibar is said to be worth US$648 million (£493 million).

The extravagant deck features an 80-foot pool and has room for two helipads.

Economic sanctions were imposed on Mr. Usmanov because of his links to Russian President Vladimir Putin and in response to the invasion of Ukraine.