The National Anti-Terrorism Centre of Czechia has initiated an investigation into the activities of the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International due to its subsidiary’s operations in Russia.
An earlier complaint against Raiffeisen Bank had been filed by the Association for Citizens’ and Entrepreneurs’ Rights.
Police have confirmed that the Anti-Terrorism Centre is conducting an investigation regarding the banking group. However, no further details were disclosed.
It has been reported today that the German authorities have arrested a German national on suspicion of exporting dual-use goods to Russia.
The goods were being exported to a Russian arms manufacturer via either Switzerland or Lithuania, and were valued at over 2 million euros, and were being used to manufacture sniper rifles.
The suspect, named as Ulli S, was first arrested in France and then extradited to Germany under a European arrest warrant.
The British authorities today announced the imposition by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of a £1m compound penalty on an unnamed UK company for unlicensed exports to Russia in breach of the UK’s Russian sanctions regulations.
No further information has been released.
Update: as per our post of 28 February 2025, it has now been clarified that this fine was for the provision of “brokering and technical assistance”.
It is being reported that so far during 2023 a total of 45 investigations have been opened by the Danish Business Authority in relation to alleged breaches of the EU’s sanctions against Russia.
Of these:
No further details on the cases have been published.
The annual report for de Volksbank N.V. has revealed the results of a sanctions-review by the Dutch National Bank.
The report states:
“Furthermore, de Volksbank has initiated a comprehensive remediation project to enhance the customer screening and transaction screening systems. This project will remediate findings from regulatory testing of our screening systems conducted by DNB in the second half of 2022, and is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2024”.
The report also notes that the DNB had identified compliance failings in the AML and anti-terrorist financing space, and de Volksbank has made a provision of €1 million in anticipation of the expected fine.
The German financial services regulator, BaFin, has issued a press release confirming an investigation into the money laundering and sanctions compliance of the bank Varengold Bank AG. The particular focus is Iran sanctions.
BaFin has prohibited the bank from processing payment transactions involving Iran, or person or companies resident in Iran. BaFin has also appointed a representative to oversee compliance with this prohibition.
The UK’s financial services regulator, the FCA, has published its annual report today for the year ending 31 March 2023.
Included in the report the FCA states that: “We reviewed nearly 100
suspected sanction breaches. We have also introduced a data-led approach to proactively supervise firms to ensure they have appropriate sanctions systems and controls, we also conducted 38 proactive assessments looking at firms’ systems and controls”.
It has been reported today that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is investigating potential breaches of sanctions, after a “Made in Ireland” tag was found on components within drones used by Russia in Ukraine.
The Dutch authorities have announced the arrest of a 41-year old man on suspicion of exporting microchips indirectly to Russia through third countries in circumvention of the EU’s sanctions.
The products are computer parts and were exported through third countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Turkey and the UAE.
Residential and business premises were searched in Moerdijk as part of the investigation.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York has issued a press release relating to charges against Vadim Konoshchenok, who was arrested in Estonia and extradited to the US.
Konoshchenok is charged with exporting US-made goods to Russia.
According to the release, Konoshchenok was arrested in Estonia in December 2022 attempting to smuggle into Russia 35 different electronic components including US-made controlled products.
Earlier efforts to export ammunition to Russia had resulted in the seizure of half a ton of material.
