Switzerland – nearly 100 criminal investigations for sanctions breaches

The Swiss authorities have this week provided some statistics on their ongoing sanctions enforcement efforts.

They have reported a total of 100 investigations. Of those:

      • 13 investigations have been concluded without charge;
      • 23 have had criminal proceedings commenced; and
      • 60 cases remain under investigation.

While most of these relate to Russia, at least two relate to Belarus sanctions.

The majority of the investigations are said to relate to trade sanctions rather than financial sanctions.

Lithuania – investigation into breach of Belarus sanctions

The Lithuanian authorities are investigating allegations of the import of urea from the Belarus company Grodno Azot (designated under Belarus sanctions).

Searches have been conducted at a number of locations and 3000 tonnes of urea has been seized valued at several million euros.

The imports are alleged to have been conducted by two companies and involved the relabelling of the product as if it had been produced by another supplier and not Grodno Azot.

Greece – Bulgarian citizen arrested for breach of US sanctions

It has been reported today that the Greek authorities have arrested a Bulgarian national for the purposes of extraditing them to the US on suspicion of breaching US sanctions against Russia.

The exports are said to have been of microchips and one tranche alone to have been valued at $1.7 million.

The name of the individual and the company he traded through have not been released.

© 2009-2025 Duane Morris LLP. Duane Morris is a registered service mark of Duane Morris LLP.

The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the author and are not to be construed as legal advice.

Proudly powered by WordPress