It has been reported today in the German press that the Danish authorities are investigating allegations that the Danish company Grundfos may have exported pump equipment and machinery for use in the Crimea in breach of the EU’s sanctions.
Germany – arrests for dual-use exports to Russia
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has issued a press release announcing the arrest of an individual Alexander S on charges of exporting dual-use goods to military recipients in Russian in breach of EU sanctions.
Although the press release does not state as much, it is likely that this individual is the same as is already facing charges relating to earlier exports.
The arrest warrant alleges the export of dual-use high-quality machine tools to an end customer in the Russian defence sector.
Germany – appeal orders prosecution for chemical exports to proceed
We reported in an earlier post that an investigation had been opened in Germany in 2018 in relation to suspected unlawful chemical exports to Japan and United States.
Since then in February 2021 the Regional Court in Oldenburg had ruled that the prosecution of three individuals at VET Pharma Freisoythe GmbH could not proceed based on a technical issue with the implementation of the EU Anti-Torture Regulation into German law.
The prosecutor’s office appealed, and the Higher Regional Court has upheld that appeal and ordered the prosecution to proceed.
The judgment is available here.
UK – OFSI Annual Report for 2020-2021: enforcement statistics
The UK’s OFSI has published its Annual Report for 2020-2021.
OFSI notes that it received 132 reports of potential financial sanctions breaches.
Interestingly, OFSI declined to publish the usual annual figure of the value of the reported breaches noting that “the total value of potential breaches reported during a financial year can be disproportionately affected by a small number of transactions with a large value”.
Germany – earlier convictions for illegal arms exports upheld
Further to an earlier post, the German Federal Court of Justice has today upheld an earlier conviction of two individuals and a company for unlawful exports of assault rifles to Mexico.
The company, Heckler & Koch, had appealed the earlier judgment and the confiscation of its gross profits from the sales. The two convicted individuals had also appealed.
The Federal Court has upheld the earlier judgment finding that the company had falsified export licence applications to mask the final destination for the weapons.
Germany – convictions and fines for Russian exports
Further to our earlier post, it has been reported today that the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg has sentenced two men to prison for supplying machine tools to a Russian arms company.
The first defendant received a sentence of three years and nine months. In addition, almost €8 million in profits from the sale of the machinery will be confiscated
The second defendant was sentenced to two years’ probation for aiding and abetting with a payment of €150,000 to secure that probation. A further €184,000 are to be confiscated.