ESA seeks FMA approval to pay staff after asset freeze

European Staal Austria (ESA), a Linz-based company whose assets have been frozen, has asked Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA) for special permission to pay wages, salaries and taxes, ORF reported on Thursday. The company said the request is intended to protect 180 jobs across Linz, Traiskirchen, Graz, Salzburg and Klagenfurt.

ESA says its payment transactions have been restricted since a notice was entered in the company register. Its lawyer, Michael Stummvoll, said transactions now require special official approval, slowing business and delaying deliveries.

The asset freeze followed suspicions that ESA had links to a Russian person on the European Union’s sanctions list. The company’s leadership rejects the allegation. According to ESA, a Dutch authority believes the sanctioned person continues to influence its parent company in The Hague despite a sale intended to sever ties with Russia. Austria’s Interior Ministry announced the freeze on the assets of the Austrian companies on November 3.

The company became part of Russia’s Mechel group in 2011. After the group’s owner was placed on the EU sanctions list following the start of the war in Ukraine, the Austrian operation was sold to a Belgian entrepreneur.