OFSI has today imposed a £10,000 penalty on Travelex Limited in relation to a £204 transaction involving the funds of a designated person.
This penalty is factually related to the same transaction as was the subject of OFSI’s first penalty.
While the fine itself is very small, that OFSI has imposed a fine in relation to such a small transaction is perhaps itself of significance.
The Dutch District Court in Limburg has convicted two companies and three individuals of unlicensed exports of gas turbine machinery to Iran.
The companies were Euroturbine BV, and its Bahraini subsidiary, and they were fined €500,000 and €350,000 respectively.
The exports were routed via indirect channels to and mask the destination.
The individuals were respectively sentenced to 12 months in jail, of which 11 months were suspended and 240 hours of community service; 8 months in jail, of which 7 months were suspended and a community service of 200 hours. The third individual , a company employee, was sentenced to 180 hours of community service.
A fourth individual had earlier pled guilty and been sentenced to 120 hours of community service.
It was reported today that the Penal Court of Antwerp has convicted three Belgian companies and associated individuals of breaching the EU’s Syrian sanctions by exporting 168 tons of isopropranol which is a dual-use product.
AAE Chemie Trading was conditionally fined €346,443 with €50,000 effective. Anex Customs was fined €500,000 of which €100,000 is effective and Danmar Logistics were fined between €75,000 of which €50,000 is effective
Rolf Rippen, the manager of AAE Chemie Trading was sentenced to four months in jail suspended, while Herman Van Landeghem, a manager of Anex Customs and Danmar Logistics, received a 12-month custodial sentence.
It has been announced today that the UK’s HM Revenue & Customs has issued compound penalties ranging between £1,000 and £4,000 to 3 separate UK Exporters.
These related to unlicensed exports of dual use goods and export breaches controlled by The Export Control Order 2008.
The UK’s Official of Financial Sanctions Implementation has today imposed its first financial penalty.
The penalty relates to a single transaction of £200 relating to funds of a designated person under the Egyptian sanctions.
The bank, Raphaels Bank, self reported to OFSI.
The initial fine was £10,000 reduced to £5,000 in acknowledgment of the self-reporting.
The ACPR in France has today announced the imposition of a fine of €50m against Banque Postale.
This is the largest fine imposed in France to date.
The fine was imposed for sanctions compliance failings and in particular the ability of designated persons to transfer funds through Banque Postale, even when not a customer, by “money order”.
Banque Postale has indicated an intention to appeal the fine.
The Luxembourg financial services regulator, the CSSF, has today imposed a a fine of €55,000 on ANF Luxembourg SA for AML and sanctions compliance failings.
The penalty notice noted failings in compliance in relation to UN sanctions, but does not specify which regime was implicated.
Further to our earlier post relating to a fine imposed on the Dutch airline KLM, after an appeal by the Dutch prosecutors the fine has been raised to €60,000 from 40,000 with half suspended for 2 years.
It has been reported today that the British company, VWR International Limited, has pleaded guilty to four counts of exporting dual-use chemicals and metals to Pakistan, Jordan and South Africa.
The exports were undertaken either without a licence or despite being denied an export licence.
The company was fined £7,039.
The District Court of Amsterdam has convicted a company on multiple charges of exporting military goods for a Russian end user. The intended Russian recipient of the exports was named as JSC Global Security, but the name of the convicted Dutch company was anonymised.
The goods (mostly bullet proof vests and other military equipment) were stopped at Schiphol airport and had been brought from South Africa.
The company was fined €30,000 (half suspended for 2 years).
