The District Court of Rotterdam has upheld fines of €170,000 imposed by the Dutch National Bank on a payment services provider for breaches of Dutch sanctions law and AML rules.
The appeal was largely based on arguments that the internal compliance function had adequately performed its function. The court was highly critical of this argument, noting the lack of due diligence and periodic training.
It has been announced that the French authorities have charged Lafarge-Holcim, its Syrian subsidiary with offences including breaching EU anti-terrorism sanctions.
The companies were also charged with crimes against humanity.
Eight individuals, including senior management, had earlier been charged (see here).
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has today issued a Final Notice against Canara Bank.
The bank was fined £896,100 and prevented from accepting deposits from new customers for 147 days.
The fine relates to inadequacies in the bank’s KYC compliance including sanctions screening. The bank cooperated with the FCA and qualified for a 30% discount on the fine.
The District Court in the Hague has convicted an individual for the making of unauthorised financial transfers to/from Iran in the years 2013 and 2014 of around €92,000.
The person was convicted but no sentence imposed on mental health grounds, while noting that ordinarily a conviction would result in a lengthy custodial sentence.
Various sums seized as part of the investigation were returned to the defendant as the prosecution had not proven that these sums related to particular criminal activity.
The Austrian Ministry of Justice has published statistics showing its enforcement between 2008 and 2017 of the Austrian “War Materials Law”.
| Year | Investigations | Prosecutions | Penalty Notices | Convictions |
| 2008 |
15 |
2 | 0 |
2 |
| 2009 |
19 |
2 | 0 |
0 |
| 2010 |
23 |
6 | 0 |
3 |
| 2011 |
18 |
4 | 0 |
2 |
| 2012 |
21 |
3 | 2 |
1 |
| 2013 |
22 |
7 | 1 |
3 |
| 2014 |
16 |
5 | 1 |
1 |
| 2015 |
30 |
5 | 2 |
4 |
| 2016 |
30 |
7 | 0 |
3 |
| 2017 |
29 |
9 | 1 |
6 |
Further to our earlier post about the Dutch authorities investigating two companies for allegedly breaching Crimean sanctions by shipping goods for the construction of the Kerch Bridge, it has now been reported that the investigation currently has been extended to seven companies.
The Diesoko Group, a Dutch engineering company, has confirmed that it is one of the companies under investigation.
The UK’s HMRC has prosecuted Carbosynth Limited to the unlicenced export of various chemicals on the dual-use and military lists to Japan, India, South Korea, Israel, the USA, Germany and Canada.
The company was fined £4,269.96.
It was announced today by HMRC that it had fined an unnamed UK exporter £109,312.50 for the unlicensed exports of military goods.
No further information was published.
Prosecutors in Kiel, northern Germany, have charged five managers of the arms manufacturer Sig Sauer on suspicion of the unlicensed export of arms to Colombia.
The charges arise out of the export of 36,000 pistols to Colombian police, exported via a US subsidiary.
Reports state that the investigation started in 2014. Prosecutors are seeking custodial sentences and a corporate fine of €12 million.
OFSI has published its Annual Report for 2017-2018. In it OFSI states that they received 122 reports of suspected breaches of financial sanctions with a reported value of £1.35 billion.
OFSI has also stated that it expects to levy its first fines during 2018-2019 and that the “majority of cases… will be resolved by enforcement activity short of a penalty”.
