European Sanctions Enforcement

January 18, 2024 by Mark Handley

Latvia – importer referred to criminal authorities

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.

January 16, 2024January 16, 2024 by Mark Handley

Finland – five charged with EU Russian sanctions offences

It has been reported that the Finnish authorities have charged five individuals with sanctions offences.

The allegations relate to the export of drones to Russian in breach of EU sanctions.

The first defendant is Gabriel Temini who is the CEO of the Finnish companies Luminor and Siberica.

Three employees of Siberica have also been charged as well as an employee of a freight forwarding company.

The charges are denied.

Trial is scheduled to commence on 26 January 2024.

January 12, 2024December 9, 2024 by Mark Handley

Denmark – three charged in relation to alleged arms exports to Russia

It is being reported that the NSK – Denmark’s National Unit for Serious Crime is investigating allegations that a Danish arms manufacturer has been exporting arms to Russia in breach of the EU’s sanctions.

The company, and the company’s CFO and CEO are all reported to have been charged on suspicion of exports to a Russian arms manufacturer.

The company successfully applied to the court for a ban on being named in the press.

The allegations include the setting up of a bespoke corporate structure to conduct the exports via third countries.

January 11, 2024January 11, 2024 by Mark Handley

The enforcement of sanctions across Europe – 2017 to the present: a new resource

We are today launching a new blog dedicated and focused on the regulatory and criminal enforcement of financial and trade sanctions across Europe – the EU, as well as countries such as Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Norway.

The entries on the page can be filtered by enforcing country, the year of enforcement, business sector, or the applicable sanctions regime. The posts are also fully text searchable.

The blog documents hundreds of enforcement actions in the period from 2017 to the present day in a total of 22 different European jurisdictions, as well as the existence of over 1,300 announced criminal or regulatory investigations which are current and ongoing across the continent.

These pages will serve as a repository for up-to-date enforcement statistics, including the cumulative of fines and penalties and the number of successfully-concluded enforcement actions.

Continue reading “The enforcement of sanctions across Europe – 2017 to the present: a new resource”

December 27, 2023January 11, 2024 by Mark Handley

Romania – company fined and €2.9 million profits confiscated

An Advocate-General’s opinion in Case C-351/22 before the Court of Justice has revealed details of a not-previously publicised enforcement action from 2020 in Romania, by which the company Neves 77 Solutions SRL was administratively fined approximately €6,000 and had gross profits of €2.9 million confiscated.

The company had brokered a transaction whereby radio sets manufactured in Russia were sold by a Ukrainian company to an Indian company.

The question which came to be addressed by the Advocate-General was whether the confiscation of gross profits was compatible with fundamental principles of European law including whether it was a proportionate abrogation of the right to property. The Advocate-General’s opinion is that such confiscations are not a breach of European law.

December 22, 2023March 19, 2024 by Mark Handley

Latvia – criminal proceedings commenced and raids in Riga for alleged Russian sanctions breaches

The Latvian VDD has announced that it has carried out raids in Moscow House in Riga on 21 and 22 December with significant data and document seized.

A criminal case has been initiated against one individual.

December 20, 2023January 10, 2024 by Mark Handley

Germany – prosecutors seek confiscation of €720 million

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.

December 12, 2023March 15, 2024 by Mark Handley

UK – OFSI’s enforcement statistics for 2022-23

The UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation has today published its Annual Review for 2022-2023.

The report includes the following regarding enforcement activity:

“As of April 2023, OFSI’s Enforcement Unit had 172 cases under live investigation, many of which are complex and remain ongoing.

In 2022-2023, OFSI recorded 473 suspected breaches of financial sanctions (excluding oil price cap and counter-terrorism breaches). This is a significant increase on the 147 cases recorded in 2021-2022. This increase was expected given the scale of increased Russia sanctions, and OFSI’s increased enforcement capabilities. This data refers to the year in which a suspected breach is recorded, rather than the year in which the potential breach activity occurred. Recorded breaches includes cases which are self-reported, reported by a third party, and those independently generated by OFSI.

Over the course of the financial year, OFSI issued 7 warning letters in response to confirmed breaches which OFSI did not consider warranted public enforcement action, and 2 monetary penalties. 51 cases were closed with no further action, 44 of which related to Russia related sanctions breach reports. OFSI does not in all cases provide its view of whether a breach occurred or not, although many suspected breaches recorded by OFSI are considered not to be breaches of financial sanctions following further investigation. A number of cases in this period were referred to other agencies, including criminal and regulatory authorities. OFSI does not provide further breakdowns on referrals to criminal authorities”.

December 11, 2023February 27, 2024 by Mark Handley

Latvia – raids and arrests for dual-use sanctions investigation

The Latvian State Security Service (VDD) has today announced a series of six raids and two arrests in Riga which took place on 4 December 2023 in relation to a criminal investigation into a Latvian company suspected of exporting electronic components to Russia.

The goods are reported to have been valued at €500,000.

The company was not named and nor were the individuals.

December 5, 2023January 11, 2024 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – arrests and raids regarding Russian sanctions

It has been reported today that the Dutch authorities, after a tip-off from unnamed US “agencies” have conducted searches at homes and business addresses in Sluis and Rotterdam.

Related search and arrests took place in the Belgium (see our related post) at the same time, and in total across both countries six have been arrested.

The allegations relate to the export of products and technology to Russia.