Mugabe ally loses EU sanctions compensation case

51      Furthermore, the right to be heard prior to the adoption of decisions maintaining restrictive measures against persons already covered by such measures presupposes that the Council has new incriminating evidence against those persons (see, to that effect, judgment of 12 March 2014 in Al Assad v Council, T‑202/12, EU:T:2014:113, paragraph 71).

52      In the present case, it is apparent from the documents before the Court that, on 5 February 2009, a lawyer made an application to the Commission for access to the documents relied on to justify the initial inclusion of the first applicant, pursuant to Regulation No 77/2009, on the list of persons referred to in Article 6 of Regulation No 314/2004. The application was made on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ 2001 L 145, p. 43). By letter of 5 March 2009, the Commission acknowledged that it was in possession of two documents relevant to the application. In particular, it acknowledged that it had two documents emanating from the ‘European correspondence’ (COREU) system containing, inter alia, information on the inclusion of the first applicant and the companies owned by him on the list of persons referred to in Article 6 of Regulation No 314/2004. However, the Commission refused to grant access to those documents on the basis of the third indent of Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation No 1049/2001, concerning the public interest as regards international relations.

53      By letter of 9 March 2009, a ‘confirmatory application’ was submitted, this time on behalf of the first applicant and 16 companies, including the second and third applicants and Breco International. By letter of 3 July 2009, the Commission refused to grant access to the documents in question on the same ground as that relied on in its first refusal.

54      Moreover, by letter of 6 June 2012, the first applicant submitted an application to the Council for access to information concerning the inclusion of his name, that of several of his companies, including the second and third applicants, and of Breco International on the list of persons referred to in Article 6 of Regulation No 314/2004. That application was made on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (OJ 2000 L 8, p. 1). By letter of 18 September 2012, the Council answered that letter, providing copies of four documents from the General Secretariat of the Council to the Delegations of the Member States. Those documents contained, essentially, information concerning the identity of the first three applicants and Breco International. One of the documents, entitled ‘Coreu CFSP/0053/09’, refers to restrictive measures imposed on the first applicant by the Federal authorities of the United States of America on account of the financial support which he provided to the Zimbabwean Government through his web of companies. That document also states that the first applicant is an associate of a Minister in that government and of the President of Zimbabwe, Mr Robert Mugabe.

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