ECJ rejects Anbouba’s appeal

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice has rejected Mr Anbouba’s Syrian sanctions appeals in C-605/13 P and C-630/13 P Issam Anbouba v Council (21 April 2015) and upheld the General Court’s judgment rejecting Mr Anbouba’s application to annul his EU sanctions listings in September 2013 (see previous blog here).

Mr Anbouba argued that the General Court should not have permitted the Council to apply a presumption that leading businessmen support the Syrian regime, and should have required the Council to provide evidence supporting his listing. The Court followed Advocate General Bot’s Opinion (see previous blog here) in holding that since Mr Anbouba had not disputed the fact that he was in a leading position in Syrian economic life (the presidency of a major agri-food business (SAPCO) & important functions in both Cham Holding and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Homs) that was sufficient to establish that he provided economic support for the Syrian regime.