On Friday the Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s office announced that it conducted six raids and arrested four individuals in relation to suspected breaches of the EU’s trade sanctions relating to Russian diamonds.
It is being reported that the investigation arose after the seizure of a cargo of diamonds on February, and that a total of three shipments had been seized with a reported value of over €8 million.
This blog has been live now for just over two months.
During that time and by way of recap, a number of states have provided updated enforcement statistics in that period (Finland, Switzerland, Latvia), but the period has also seen a significant volume of new enforcement activity:
Continue reading “European sanctions enforcement: the last two months”
The Criminal Customs Service of Lithuania has undertaken its first enforcement of the EU sanctions which prevents a Russian-registered car from driving in Lithuania.
The car in question, valued at over €40,000 was confiscated and the driver was fined.
It is being reported today that officers from the Berlin-Brandenburg Customs Investigation Office and the Berlin State Police conducted raids on seven private and commercial addresses and arrested three people on suspicion of the unlawful export of luxury cars in breach of the EU’s Russian sanctions.
The sanctions prohibit the export of cars valued at more than €50,000.
The allegations relate to the export of 400 cars valued in total at €28 million. The cars are said to have been indirectly exported to Russia via Belarus since June 2022.
The German company Hörmann, which manufactures garages doors, gates and other products, is reported to be under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s office in Germany. Also being investigated are the Hörmann subsidiaries Alutech Group based in Minsk and Eluteck Investments Limited based in Cyprus.
The company is reported to have denied the allegations which were first by WirtschaftsWoche in January 2024.
The allegations relate to the alleged importation of sanctioned goods from Belarus via Russia for the time when the products in question were prohibited from Belarus but were not prohibited imports from Russia.
It has been reported today that the Latvian National Regional Development Agency (the “VRAA”) has referred the Latvian company LLC Lanekss to the criminal authorities for investigation.
The allegations arise out of LLC Lanekss being a seller of products on Latvia’s electronic public procurement sale platform – the EIS.
The Latvian state broadcaster (LTV) purchased tea through the EIS which when delivered was stated to have been manufactured in Russia.
As article 5k of EU regulation 833/2014 prohibits the award of a contract within the scope of the EU’s Public Procurement legislation to a Russian company or individual, or a company more than 50% owned by a Russian company or individual, the VRAA has referred the case to law enforcement for investigation.
It has been reported that Federal Prosecutors in Germany have applied to confiscate €720 million in frozen assets belonging to Russia’s National Securities Depository.
After the NSD had been designated it had sought to move the funds and made transfer requests to JP Morgan and Commerzbank which refused to proceed with the transfer. As such the prosecutors are seeking to have the funds treated as the proceeds of crime and so confiscatable under ordinary anti-money laundering rules.
Further to our earlier post about the German authorities investigating a share transfer suspected to have been carried out in breach of an asset freeze imposed on Alexei Mordashov, the Cypriot authorities have confirmed that, following a report from the German authorities, they have commenced their own investigation.
Following a report by the Lithuanian state-owned railway company to the Prosecutor General’s Office, an investigation has been commenced into suspected illegal exports of goods to Russia.
The railway announced the suspension of the transport of luxury cars as part of its efforts to reduce the risk of sanctions breaches.
The report to the Prosecutor was focussed on the activities of four companies and the transshipment of cars to Russia via other neighbouring countries.
The Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office has conducted three raids and seized $1.5m in diamonds suspected to have been the result of circumvention of the EU’s Russian sanctions.
A criminal investigation has been launched and a court-appointed expert been put in place.
