Belgian court rules country's treasury department lacks authority to decide on Russian bank's frozen assets

By Charlotte Van Campenhout

BRUSSELS, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Belgium's top administrative court ruled that the country's treasury department lacked the proper legal authority to refuse the release of frozen assets of Russian bank BCS held at Brussels-based clearing house Euroclear.

The Council of State did not order the release of the assets, however, and it was unclear whether the ruling offered the Russian bank a route towards getting the securities and funds back.

While the ruling only applies to BCS Bank, other treasury department decisions taken under the same mechanism could also be vulnerable to challenges unless Belgium revises the legal framework.

The ruling was made last Friday and first reported on Wednesday by Belgian newspaper De Tijd.

A spokesperson for the Belgian Finance Ministry said it was studying the ruling and its possible consequences. Euroclear and BCS Bank did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

BCS Bank held securities and funds at Euroclear through Russia's National Settlement Depository, which was placed under EU sanctions in June 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This resulted in the freezing of the bank's assets held by Euroclear.

BCS Bank asked Belgium to have its assets released in July 2024, which the treasury department refused. BCS then appealed against the refusal to the Belgian Council of State in October 2024.

Friday's ruling said that under EU sanctions rules, Belgium must designate a "competent authority" to decide on requests to release frozen assets.

Belgium gave that power to the finance minister, who then delegated it to the administrator-general of the ministry's treasury department. The court ruled that this delegation was too broad and insufficiently defined.

Most of the roughly €200 billion ($230.7 billion) in frozen Russian assets held in Europe are kept at Euroclear.

The European Commission last year proposed using the ​assets to back a loan for Ukraine. But Belgium opposed that, ‌saying it ⁠did not provide sufficient guarantees that it would not be left alone to deal with potential lawsuits and demands of damages from Russia. As a result, the plan was dropped.

However, several EU member states have recently asked for the EU to reopen the debate.

($1 = 0.8669 euros)

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout in Brussels, additional reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya in Moscow, Editing by Inti Landauro and Alex Richardson)