ASX-listed Russian miner Tigers Realm Coal is in breach of Australian sanctions put in place after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Federal Court said on Tuesday.
Federal Court Justice Geoffrey Kennett found Tigers Realm continuing to export coal from Siberia breached the Commonwealth’s law prohibiting business with Russia, and ordered the miner to pay the Commonwealth’s legal costs. This decision could put the coal miner out of business, lawyers for the miner warned at the trial earlier this year.a businesswoman and Melbourne University chancellor, own 5.6 per cent of Tigers Realm Coal.
Justice Kennett threw out Tigers’ argument, finding on Tuesday that Tigers’ Russian subsidiaries, in transporting coal from the mine to the port – all of which occurs in Russia – were “transporting” goods in breach of Australian sanctions law. “The word “transports” in regulation 4A has its ordinary meaning. The activities of the Russian subsidiaries involve actions which constitute “sanctioned imports” as defined in reg 4A,” Justice Kennett wrote in his 29-page judgment, referring to provisions in theHowever, the miner will not face criminal penalties as a result of this case. This is because the Commonwealth did not prosecute the miner under sanctions law.
Melissa Chen, senior lawyer from Australian Centre for International Justice, accused the company of complicity with Russian president Vladimir Putin’s regime.It reported a net profit of $46 million from $140 million in revenue in the year to December 31. The severe winters in Siberia mean Tigers Realm can only ship coal to customers for between six and eight months every year from the Bering Sea coast in the Russian Far East of Chukotka.