MOSCOW (Reuters) - A firm hired by the U.S. Treasury Department is auditing Russian aluminum giant Rusal to check whether it is complying with the terms of a deal under which Washington agreed to lift sanctions on the company, Rusal said. FILE PHOTO: Aluminium ingots are seen stored at the foundry shop of the Rusal Krasnoyarsk aluminium smelter in Krasnoyarsk, Russia October 3, 2018. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin/File Photo
The audit is the first glimpse of how Treasury is policing whether Rusal and its parent company En+ are adhering to the deal - in particular the stipulation that Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s control over the business be severed.
A source familiar with the situation said the audit included checks on the telephone and email records of a small circle of Rusal senior executives and board members to establish whether they remained in contact with Deripaska, who is himself still on a U.S. sanctions blacklist.
There was no word from Rusal or sources familiar with the situation on whether the audit had found anything that might be at odds with the deal on lifting sanctions.
In reply to Reuters questions about the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) inspecting Rusal’s offices, the company issued a statement saying: “These are not checks by OFAC but an audit which was agreed as part of conditions for lifting of sanctions.”
A firm hired by the U.S. authorities is conducting the audit, Rusal said, giving no further detail. OFAC did not reply to a Reuters request for comment.
Deripaska reduced his ownership as part of the sanctions deal, which also stipulated that he sever control of Rusal and En+.
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Rusal and En+ agreed to change their corporate governance, such as by seeking “unprecedented transparency” by undertaking extensive, ongoing auditing, the U.S. Treasury said in December.
FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS
The checks on behalf of OFAC started more than a week ago, and representatives of the firm conducting the audit are in Moscow meeting face to face with some Rusal board members and executives, the source familiar with the situation said.
Those representatives are running the checks on email and phone records of the same Rusal executives and board members for evidence of any contact with Deripaska, the source said.
The checks affect a select group of executives and are happening in line with Rusal’s deal with the U.S. authorities, a second source familiar with the situation said.
The Treasury Department has said previously it would vigorously monitor arrangements to ensure Deripaska cannot influence board members of the businesses.
The deal requires En+ and Rusal to maintain records of any contact between Deripaska and the boards, management, employees or agents of En+. Information provided by En+ and its companies will supplement and be confirmed by a team of U.S. investigators, Washington said previously.
Dividends The Board of Directors has a clear dividend policy for the Group. As announced in 2Q 2017, this implies the payment on at least a semi-annual basis of dividends, which will be equal to the sum of: 75% of Free Cash Flow of the Energy segment, subject to a minimum of USD 250 million per annum; and 100% of dividends received from UC RUSAL However, due to the exceptional challenges faced by the Company during 2018, the Board has taken the prudent decision not to recommend payment of a dividend for the 2018 financial year. 3 дивиденды Совет директоров имеет четкую дивидендную политику для Группы. Как было объявлено во втором квартале 2017 года, это подразумевает выплату дивидендов, по крайней мере, раз в полгода, которые будут равны сумме: 75% свободного денежного потока в сегменте «Энергия» при условии минимальной суммы в 250 миллионов долларов США в год; а также 100% дивидендов, полученных от ОК РУСАЛ Однако из-за исключительных проблем, с которыми Компания столкнулась в 2018 году, Правление приняло взвешенное решение не рекомендовать выплату дивидендов за 2018 финансовый год.
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