International businessman Oleg Boyko’s name has been removed from a list of individuals against whom the Government of Canada previously decided to impose sanctions against Russia in connection with its invasion of Ukraine.
Upon the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, changes were made to the list of persons against whom sanctions were previously imposed.
Item 731 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations is repealed, the statement says. Item 731 of the Canadian sanctions list of individuals is listed as “Oleg Viktorovich Boyko, born September 28, 1964”.
Due to failure to receive a response from the Canadian authorities, in August 2023, Oleg Boyko filed claims against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Federal Court of Canada.
After the court initiated administrative proceedings, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada – the person authorized to consider issues of imposition and lifting of sanctions in accordance with national legislation – considered the appeal and decided to satisfy it. She duly notified the applicant by letter on November 10.
The reasons for lifting the ban are yet to be divulged publicly, however, the applicant’s lawyers insisted that Mr. Boyko does not have any business in Canada, is not a person associated with the authorities and government bodies of Russia, and does not take part in political processes in the Russian Federation.
Oleg Boyko is the main holdings beneficiary of the Finstar Financial Group, a global company which invests in fintech in over 25 countries.
Finstar Financial Group is an international group of companies with around US$2bn of assets under management (AUM) and offices in Cyprus, Serbia, and the UAE. The group is strongly focused on the fintech sector and has been highly successful historically in financial services, IT, real estate, FMCG retail, media, and entertainment sectors.
Boyko’s Finstar has significant experience in launching new projects in developing markets, restructuring existing companies to become more competitive, as well as sealing new partnerships and M&A agreements and building greenfield startups.