The Latvian State Security Service (VDD) has announced that it has forwarded a case to the Prosecution Service for the initiation of criminal proceedings relating to the export of luxury goods to Russian in breach of EU sanctions.
The luxury good in question was a car.
In another announcement today, the VDD has announced the referral of another case for prosecution relating to the import of iron and steel products from Belarus in breach of EU sanctions.
It was reported today that the Norwegian authorities have imposed their first fine for breaches of sanctions against Russia.
The fine was NOK 50,000 being the profit from the unlawful sale of a car to a Russian customer in breach of Norway’s sanctions against the export of luxury goods.
OFSI today announced that it had imposed a civil penalty for breach of the UK’s Russian sanctions.
The penalty notice is available here.
The fine was imposed on Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Competition Limited (HKIWS), and was just £30,000.
The conduct in question was the receipt of funds and goods from a designated person. The goods in question were wine bottles. HKIWS was also found to have made “economic resources” available to a designated person. This was in the form of publicity, and illustrates OFSI’s wide view of what amounts to the making available of an economic resource.
OFSI has today announced a civil penalty of £15,000 against Tracerco Limited for a breach of the EU’s Syrian sanctions.
OFSI’s Penalty Notice is available here.
The breaches related to airline tickets valued at £2,956.43 purchased for a Tracerco employee through a travel agency. The airline in question, however, was Syrian Arab Airlines which is designated under the EU’s sanctions.
OFSI, therefore, concluded that purchasing the tickets amounted to making funds available to a designated person. OFSI also commented, in relation to the requirement that it showed Tracerco either knew or had reasonable grounds to suspect that the transactions would breach the regulations, that operating in the region was sufficient to satisfy this requirement.
The travel company Tui has confirmed that the German authorities are investigating the circumstances behind the alleged transfer of a 34% stake in the company from Alexi Mordashov, now a designated person under the EU’s Russian sanctions, to his wife.
The allegation is that the transfer would be a breach of the asset freeze imposed upon Mordashov.
It was reported today that the Dutch port authorities in Rotterdam have seized 90,000 bottles of vodka allegedly destined for North Korea. The vessel was first to sail to China.
Such an export would be a breach of the EU’s sanctions against North Korea. The Dutch authorities have not commented on the source of the intelligence used to identify the alleged destination of the goods.
It has been reported today that the United Nations Panel of Experts on its North Korean sanctions is investigating possible sanctions breaches by the German company Müller + Partner GmbH.
The allegations relate to the shipment of luxury goods to North Korea and involve transshipment through Singapore.
The Italian Financial Police have confiscated wines imported into Italy from Crimea in breach of the EU’s sanctions.
The confiscation took place at the wine fair, Vinitaly, and the wines from Crimea were part of the Russian exhibits. Agricultural products from Crimea are prohibited from import into the EU under the EU’s sanctions.
