Further to our earlier post, it is being reported that the trial in the UK’s criminal prosecution the art gallery Hauser and Wirth, and shipping company, Artay Rauchwerger Solomons, has been scheduled for January 2028.
The companies are charged in relation to allegedly making a luxury good, a work of art, available to a person connected with Russia.
The next hearing is scheduled for 5 May 2026 at which the defendants will be able to enter their pleas.
Latvia’s Prosecutor’s Office has issued a press release regarding bringing a criminal prosecution before the Riga City Court against an Estonian-Russian dual national for attempting to transport 10,000 items of ammunition into Russia.
The shipment was stopped at the Terekhov Customs crossing. As part of a search of the truck the bullets were found hidden within the driver’s cab of the truck.
An individual included in the EU’s Global Human Rights sanctions list has been barred from entering Romania and deported.
The press reporting does not name the sanctioned individual, but the reporting indicates the person to have been an Israeli settler.
Polish authorities have charged an individual after attempting to import an inflatable vessel into Poland from Belarus.
The individual is a Belarusian national, and the inflatable craft was identified by Polish customs at the Terespol border checkpoint.
Luxembourg’s financial services regulator, the CSSF, has issued a fine against Rakuten Bank SA for various compliance failings including sanctions and AML.
One of the failings identified was “accumulated significant and recurring delays in processing alerts relating to customer screening against list of persons subject to restrictive measures in financial matters”. The Notice identified a particular example of a customer subject to anti-terrorism sanctions where the review of the alert took more than six months.
Another failing identified was a failure to “apply ‘without delay’ potential restrictive measures in financial matters”.
Poland’s Customs and Tax Service has conducted raids and arrested five individuals suspected of importing Russian and Belarusian birch plywood under falsified papers to make it appear that the timber was of Kazakh or Turkish origin.
The five individuals have been named as:
The imports are alleged to have taken place between 2022 and 2024.
The investigation was aided by materials from OLAF (the European Anti-Fraud Office) and from the response to a mutual legal assistance request provided by Kazakhstan.
The suspects have all been charged but have been release pending trial.
The Guardia di Finanza and Police in Italy have arrested nine people and seized over €8m in assets as part of an investigation into fundraising on behalf of sanctioned group Hamas.
The Guardia di Finanza press release is here.
The investigation was supported by Eurojust and authorities in the Netherlands.
As part of the investigation premises have been searched in Genoa, Milan, Rome, Turin, Bologna, Bergamo, Florence, Monza Brianza, Lodi and Sassuolo, with cash of €1,080,000 seized.
It is alleged that various front organizations raised funds, not for charitable or humanitarian purposes, but to support the military operations of Hamas.
Finnish Customs are investigating the cargo of structural steel found on board the vessel Fitburg, that has been detained as part of a wider investigation into suspected damage to an undersea cable that runs between Helsinki and Tallinn.
The Russian steel was on board the vessel that departed St Petersburg before the ship was detained. The steel is subject to import prohibitions under the EU’s Russian sanctions.
Prosecutors in Germany have settled their investigation and prosecution of Alisher Usmanov for suspected breaches of EU sanctions.
The settlement involves a payment of €10 million but no admission of liability.
The investigation related to allegations of payments made by or on behalf Usmanov, a designated person, in relation the provision of security for two properties in Germany.
It is being reported (here and here) that Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service and the State Security Department, with coordinating assistance from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, are undertaking an investigation into suspected breaches of the EU’s Russian and Belarus sanctions by Lithuanian, Russian and Belarus individuals.
It is alleged that those involved forged documents to obtain funding from the EU Space Agency, and that the money was then used (with other funds) by a company incorporated in Lithuania to obtain and export microchips, semiconductors, navigation systems, and other technical devices to Russia and Belarus.
In total 10 raids were conducted, and 5 individuals and one company are under investigation.
