Following prominent reporting in Lithuania (e.g. here), the Lithuanian Customs Department has confirmed that it has commenced an investigation into the alleged activities of the company UAB Vilpra.
It is alleged that the company exported nearly €1m in air conditioning units to Belarus via Kyrgyzstan in breach of the EU’s sanctions.
The company is reported to deny the allegations and to have stated that it complies with all sanctions.
Malta’s Sanctions Monitoring Board (the “SMB”) has, for the first time , imposed a fine for breach of EU sanctions.
The company in question was ArabMillionaire Limited. The SMB publishes the names of all company’s fined more than €800, but the size of the fine is otherwise unspecified.
Also unspecified is the conduct giving rise to the fine, but it was said to have been identified “at the time of supervisory examination conducted between June and August 2020”.
It is unclear when the fine was issued as this information is not specified on the website and the Sanctions Monitoring Board has confirmed that such information is confidential.
ArabMillionaire operated as an online casino (trading as Playfooz.com) based in Dubai. It’s licence from the Malta Gaming Authority was suspended in October 2022, and then cancelled in October 2023.
It has been reported that alongside other regulatory failings part of the reason for these actions by the Malta Gaming Authority was non-compliance with money laundering and counter terrorist financing.
Further to our earlier post there has been an ongoing investigation in Cyprus in relation to the alleged transfer of over $1 billion in shares by Alexey Mordashov in breach of the asset freeze imposed upon him by the European Union.
It is now being reported that the Cypriot investigation has reached its “final stages”.
The report gives no indication of the outcome of the investigation.
The allegations relate to transfers of the shares in the tourism operator Tui.
The UK’s regulator for the gambling sector, the Gambling Commission has issued a press release recording fines of £343,035 against Hillside (UK) Gaming ENC and £239,085 against Hillside (UK Sports) ENC.
Both companies operate under the Bet365 brand.
The fines in part relate to social responsibility failings, and partly to financial crime compliance failings including “failing to undertake financial sanctions checks on new customers prior to their first deposits”.
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.
