The UK’s National Crime Agency has applied to confiscate £1.1m in frozen funds owned or controlled by Petr Aven on the basis that the funds in question are the proceeds of crime for being the proceeds of suspected breaches of the UK’s Russian sanctions.
It is being reported that the funds were first frozen by a court order in May 2022. The money is said to have been used in transactions by Ekaterina Kozina, Petr Aven’s wife, and Stephen Gater, Aven’s “representative”.
The Latvian State Forest Service (VMD) has fined a company €10,000 in relation to timber which may have been sourced from Russia.
The fine was imposed on the basis of the EU’s Timber Regulation and the failure of the company to properly conduct due diligence on timber that may have been Russian in origin which would render the timber as illegally sourced.
It is being reported that the VMD has taken the view that the importer needs to be able to positively exclude the possibility that the timber is of Russian, or Belarusian, origin.
Further to our earlier posts about the detention and subsequent release of the vessel the Atlantic Navigator II which carried, amongst other cargo, birch timber of Russian origin into the German port of Rostock.
It is now being reported that the Captain of the vessel has received a fine which he was directed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to pay to the charity Human Rights Watch.
The fine was €8,000, which no doubt reflects the fact that the vessel only entered German waters after experiencing technical difficulties.
On Friday the Customs office in Frankfurt raided and searched 24 residential and business premises mostly in Offenbach am Main and Aschaffenburg although Customs said the network extended across Germany. Four individuals were arrested. The actions were part of an investigation into the suspected export of luxury cars to Russia in breach of EU sanctions.
The individuals arrested were aged between 39 and 44 with one woman and three men.
The allegation is that 170 luxury cars had been exported since 2022.
Five cars were seized as part of the raids along with evidence and €300,000 in cash. In addition a freezing order was obtained over €13.3m in bank accounts said to be the profits from the enterprise.
The German authorities have been particularly active in enforcement related to luxury cars of late:
As part of the press article (behind a paywall) on the recent fines against Novatek Green Energy and Geleo (see our post here), the Polish authorities have also provided an update on their enforcement activity more broadly.
Certainly the figure for total fines does not include the fine against Novatek Green Energy (which was 12 million zloty), but it is also a little unclear whether or not the figure includes the fine against Geleo (which was 4m zloty).
The report also notes that most of the 20 penalties have been imposed in 2024, with only two imposed by the end of 2023 for a combined total of 71,000 zloty (c. $17,700).
These enforcement actions appear to relate to a mix of EU and the separate Polish sanctions.
No information has been provided as to the conduct which gave rise to the fines, or who the fines were imposed on.
Now updated from the post first published on 28 June.
It is being reported (behind a paywall) that the Malopolska Customs and Tax Office of Krakow has imposed fines of 12 million zloty (c. €2.78m) against Novatek Green Energy and 4 million zloty (c. €927,000) against employee-owned company Geleo.
The fine against Geleo was imposed on 31 May. It was for breach of the relevant asset freeze and for circumvention of Polish sanctions. The transaction in question was the purchase, for €1, of 100% of the shares in Novatek Green Energy from the Swiss company Novatek Gas and Power GmbH, which in turn is a direct subsidiary of the Russian company OAO Novatek.
The fine against Novatek Green Energy was imposed on 25 June, and was imposed for multiple transactions in breach of the imposed asset freeze.
With particular thanks to Dr Marcin Łukowski who provided a copy of the relevant article.
As part of its Annual Report, the Unità di Informazione Finanziaria per l’Italia within the Bank of Italy has announced investigations into suspicions of illicit money flows from Italy to Russia via third countries.
No further details are available at this time including the amounts at stake, the identities of the third countries, or whether a referral has been made to the criminal authorities.
It is also unclear whether the transfers are alleged to have been made for or on behalf of designated persons.
On Wednesday more than 60 officers from customs offices and prosecutors raided seven premises in Germersheim in the Rheinland-Palatinate region.
The investigation relates to the export of approximately 190 luxury cars to Russia valued at €4.5m, with the exports conducted via Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Turkey.
As well as evidence significant amounts of cash were seized and attachment orders have been obtained over bank accounts and real estate.
It is being reported that the Norwegian Coast Guard conducted an investigation in May into possibly unlawful ship-to-ship transfers of fish between a Russian and a Norwegian vessel.
The transfers involve fish caught by the Russian vessel which cannot then land the fish in the EU, and so engages in a ship-to-ship transfer of the fish to a Norwegian vessel which then landed the fish in the Netherlands.
As there are no import prohibitions in the EU in relation to Russian fish, and the relevant prohibition is the entry into an EU port of a Russian vessel, the report notes that the Norwegian authorities concluded that no breach had occurred.
It is being reported that the Italian authorities, upon receipt of information from the US authorities, have conducted an operation in the Mediterranean to seize millions of dollars in unspecified military equipment on board the MSC Arina.
The goods are suspected of being exported to Libya in breach of the arms embargo that forms part of the UN sanctions.
The vessel had departed Shenzen, China in April and was allowed to continue after the cargo in question was removed.
It is being reported that the equipment was destined for General Khalifa’s forces in eastern Libya.
