The Portuguese Government has confirmed this Wednesday that the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has requested his authorization to be able to sell Chelsea. The procedure was necessary to carry out the operation because the tycoon has Portuguese nationality.
“Portugal received yesterday (Tuesday) night a letter from Roman Abramovich requesting authorization from Portugal,” revealed the Portuguese Foreign Minister, João Gomes Cravinho, in statements to the Lusa agency during a visit to Cape Verde. In addition, he explained that the Government is analyzing the letter, which will address the matter with the European Commission and “shortly” will respond to the Russian businessman.
Abramovich was forced to put Chelsea up for sale as a result of the sanctions imposed by the war in Ukraine and wants to transfer it to a consortium led by billionaire Todd Boehly, owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.
The operation, valued at 4,250 million pounds (4,970 million euros), It has received the green light from the British Government this Wednesday and was also approved by the Premier League. However, the authorization of Portugal is still necessary, since Abramovich has had Portuguese nationality since last year and is on the list of those sanctioned by the European Union. The Portuguese foreign minister had already warned that they would be “intransigent” in the application of sanctions on the Russian tycoon.
Portugal has kept a property valued at 10 million euros owned by Abramovich in the Algarve (south) frozen since March and that an attempt was made to sell two weeks before the invasion of Ukraine. The oligarch, with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned by the European Union on March 15, which determines to freeze his assets and prevents citizens and companies from the community bloc from making funds available to him. Those sanctioned are also subject to a ban on travel, entry or transit through EU territories.
Even so, Roman Abramovich could enter Portugal because last year he obtained nationality through a law that grants the Portuguese passport to descendants of Sephardic Jews. The process is under investigation for alleged irregularities with the certificates proving his Jewish ancestry.