The high court has seized two Manx-registered business jets linked to an ex-Russian senator jailed for fraud.

Former Senator Aleksandr Vitalyevich Sabadash was found guilty in March 2015 of attempting to embezzle 1.8 billion rubles of public funds through a fraudulent VAT refund scheme.

His six-year jail term was upheld by the Moscow City Court.

Now the high court in Douglas has granted an injunction to freeze assets linked to Sabadesh in the Isle of Man.

Two corporate jets valued at a total of Euro 9.25 million have been seized.

Granting the injunction to the Russian VTB Bank, Deemster David Doyle said Sabadash appeared to be using company structures in the island in an attempt to shield the ownership of his assets.

He said: ’I am satisfied the claimant has a good arguable claim. These assets fail to be treated as assets beneficially owned by Mr Sabadash.

’I am satisfied that there is solid evidence of a risk of dissipation. There is evidence of a desire not to pay a judgment. ’The reasonable inference is that Mr Sabadash will take steps to protect his assets.’

The Manx-registered Gulfstreams M-BJEP and M-NICE were held by M-BJEP Limited and M-NICE Limited whose sole shareholder was AFB Trading One Inc. AFB’s sole shareholder, in turn, was Sabadesh.

The court heard that VTB Bank entered into two guarantees with Sabadash in January and February 2010 but did not honour his obligations under those guarantees.

In June 2016, judgment was obtained against him in the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow for principal sums in excess of Euro 7 million.

VTB Bank applied for the injunction in the island as part of a move to enforce that judgment.

Ramsey-based corporate services provider Integrated-Capabilities Limited, as agent for M-BJEP Ltd and M-NICE Ltd, has an unnamed Russian prison as an address for Sabadash, the court heard.

Sabadash was stripped of his seat in the Russian parliament’s upper house, the Federation Council, in 2006 after being accused of carrying out business activities, which senators are forbidden to do.

Manx-registered jets hit the spotlight in the Paradise Papers revelations on BBC television and the Guardian, which focused on Lewis Hamilton’s aircraft.