2025 – European Sanctions Enforcement

January 2, 2025January 2, 2025 by Mark Handley

Finland – sanctions investigation closed into returned Russian art

In April 2022 Finnish Customs seized over 200 pieces of art being shipped back to Russian museums such as the State Hermitage Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery.

It is now being reported that at that time an investigation was commenced by Finnish Customs working with the Finnish Foreign Ministry as to whether permitting the onward transit of the objects and artefacts, or the shipments themselves, would amount to breaching EU sanctions.

The artefacts were later allowed to travel on to Russia while the investigation continued.

As of 24 December 2024, it is now being reported (in the linked article above) that the investigation has concluded with no further action to be taken.

January 2, 2025January 2, 2025 by Mark Handley

Bermuda – trust company fined $600,000 for sanctions and AML compliance failings

On 30 December the Bermuda Monetary Authority announced the imposition of a fine of $600,000 on Meritus Trust Company Limited for a series of AML and sanctions compliance failings.

In terms of sanctions compliance the failing was specified as “An overreliance on manual processes to implement international sanctions policies and procedures and sanctions screening“.

The BMA’s on-site investigation was commenced in June 2022 and the company was then given a deadline of July 2023 to complete the necessary remediation. The BMA was satisfied with the company’s efforts and noted a number of mitigating factors such as a low risk of loss to clients, co-operation, the remediation efforts, and the company’s overall culture of compliance.

This is a rare example of a sanctions enforcement fine being imposed in one of the UK’s overseas territories or crown dependencies. The only other example known (to this blog) are the fines and other punishments imposed in Guernsey in 2015/2016.

January 2, 2025January 2, 2025 by Mark Handley

Latvia – more than 100 criminal cases for sanctions breaches commenced during 2024

It has been reported that the Latvian authorities commenced 100 criminal cases for suspected sanctions violations during 2024.

In late October 2024 the figure was reported as 94, meaning that the final weeks of the year continued to see new criminal cases started.

The cases appear to be predominantly related to breaches of trade sanctions and the reporting states that the prohibited products included “engines, steel products and optical devices”.