Germany has seized the world’s largest superyacht after “extensive investigations” determined that it is owned by the sister of the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who has had sanctions imposed on him.
The German federal police said on Thursday they had seized the $600m (£458m) Dilbar after weeks of painstaking financial investigative work, which exposed the yacht’s true ownership despite a complex web of “offshore concealment”.
The vessel is flagged in the Cayman Islands and registered to a holding company in Malta – both tax havens favoured by the global ultra-rich to park their wealth.
German authorities said they had determined the yacht was ultimately owned by Usmanov’s sister Gulbakhor Ismailova.
Usmanov, a telecoms magnate who owns the £48m Beechwood House in Highgate, London, and the 16th-century Sutton Place estate in Surrey, had sanctions placed on him by the UK last month. The EU and the US had already taken similar action against the billionaire, who has had significant interests in the English football clubs Arsenal and Everton.
Ismailova and another of Usmanov’s sisters, Saodat Narzieva, have also been subjected to UK and EU sanctions. The UK government said Usmanov “indirectly transferred assets to Ismailova, including leaving his sister as the only beneficial owner of the yacht Dilbar”.
The EU said he “transferred considerable assets to his sister Soadat Narzieva, including a single payment or gift of $3m. She also held 27 Swiss bank accounts, holding hundreds of millions of dollars, which can be linked to her brother.”
At 15,917 tonnes, Dilbar is the world’s largest motor yacht by gross tonnage, and is typically crewed by 96 people, with space for 24 passengers in 12 suites. Designed by the British superyacht expert Andrew Winch, it boasts a 25-metre (82ft) indoor swimming pool (the world’s largest on a private boat), sauna and massage room, cinema – and two helipads.
The 156-metre vessel, which is undergoing extensive repairs in Hamburg, Germany, was last month inspected by police. However, German authorities denied reports at the time that it had been seized.
On Thursday, Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt police force tweeted that it had established the yacht was “subject to sanctions law and was able to be legally impounded in Hamburg”.
Das #BKA hat durch aufwendige Ermittlungen trotz Offshore-Verschleierung die Eigentümerin der M/S #Dilbar ermittelt. Diese ist Gulbakhor Ismailova, die Schwester von Alisher Usmanov. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/L2zc0bP5jU
— Bundeskriminalamt (@bka) April 13, 2022
A police spokesperson said the yacht could not be “sold, rented or pledged as collateral”.
@AuswaertigesAmt, @BMWK und @BMF_Bund haben in Brüssel dafür gesorgt, dass die russische Eigentümerin sanktioniert wird.
— Bundeskriminalamt (@bka) April 13, 2022
Die Luxusyacht M/S #Dilbar unterliegt somit dem Sanktionsrecht und konnte in Hamburg rechtssicher festgesetzt werden. (2/2)
Dilbar was bought in 2016 for a reported $600m from the German shipbuilder Lürssen, which custom-built it for Usmanov over 52 months.
The firm describes it as “one of the most complex and challenging yachts ever built, in terms of both dimensions and technology”.
At the time of its launch, the Lürssen chief executive, Peter Lürssen, said: “Dilbar has the most advanced security technologies of any superyacht in the world. But the things you read about it containing an anti-aircraft missile defence system are all nonsense.”
