Oil tycoon and Edgware primary school funder loses appeal against sanctions

A billionaire oil tycoon who funded the Beit Shvidler Primary School in Edgware, has failed in a bid to overturn UK sanctions placed against him.

Eugene Shvidler was amongst a list of 65 Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the UK government in March 2022 following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last Friday the High Court in London rejected an effort by Shvidler to have the sanctions on him declared unlawful.

Shvidler had challenged the sanctions on the grounds that they caused disproportionate hardship and discriminated against him as a Russian-born person.

He disputed claims made by the Foreign Office that he could have benefited from and supported the Russian government through his involvement with former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich.

Shvidler, who was born in the Soviet Union, told the the court he had been forced to relocate to America, where he is not under sanctions, and that he relied on friends for material needs.

Places for two of his children at UK private schools had been withdrawn, his lawyers said.

Shvidler’s lawyers said he client “was sanctioned by the UK for being a friend of Roman Abramovich and a director of a FTSE 100 company.

“As a UK citizen, UK sanctions have frozen his entire worldwide assets for an indeterminable period. The impact of this on him and his family is extreme and far-reaching.”

But dismissing the appeal Judge Neil Garnham, said: “In my view, it cannot properly be said that the secretary of state has failed to strike a fair balance between the rights of Mr Shvidler and his family and the interests of the community.

“Whilst the effects of designation are serious, and the claimant and his family have been subjected to enormous inconvenience and no little financial loss, they do not threaten his life or liberty. The effects of designation are temporary and reversible, not fixed and permanent.”

Shvidler’s lawyers immediately said he would appeal against the decision.

In July 2011 Shvidler was revealed to be the primary donor for the £4.2 million rebuilding project at Edgware Jewish Primary School.

The school said it was acknowledging Shvidler’s generosity by changing its name in 2012 to the Beit Shvidler Primary School.

It was London-based Shvidler’s first community project in the UK.

Shvidler made his fortune during the privatisation of Russian industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union .

A regular at Chelsea football games, he had previously provided backing for Jewish schools in Moscow and New York and is also involved in the Ir David Foundation for the preservation of the Old City of Jerusalem.