RUSAL, the embattled owner of the Limerick-based Aughinish Alumina, has said that it has not yet received the official resignation of Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire at the centre of a sanctions war with the US treasury.
Mr Deripaska, who last week told a London court that the sanctions imposed by the US over his links to the Kremlin and investigations into election tampering have really hurt the company, has yet to relinquish control of the firm in a bid to stave off the sanctions.
The US Treasury imposed a series of sanctions on Russian companies and businessmen, including Rusal, last month and gave buyers and supplier 30 days to wind down its links to Deripaska’s companies.
The sanctions were to be eased if its the Russian billionaire resigned his controlling stakeholder position.
In a posting to its website, Rusal said that while Mr Deripaska resigned from En+, it has not received a formal resignation of the billionaire from its board.
The Aughinish owner said that the billionaire had resigned from Russia’s En+ board of directors, in a move that could help alleviate sanctions pressure.
En+ also announced its directors had endorsed its chairman’s plan to have sanctions lifted.
“The company reiterates that its current assessment is that it is still highly likely that the impact may be materially adverse to the business and prospects of the group,” Rusal said in a filing to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
However, Rusal confirmed that “as at the date of this announcement, the company has not received any formal resignation from Mr Deripaska,” it added.
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