The German Federal Court of Justice has upheld the confiscation of €11 million imposed on Sig Sauer for unlicensed exports of small arms to Colombia.
See our earlier post, for the original fine from 2019.
The exports were made as part fulfilment of a contract by the US government to supply weapons to the Colombian police, but the necessary export licences were not obtained from the German authorities.
The judgment is available here.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has issued a press release announcing the arrest of an individual Alexander S on charges of exporting dual-use goods to military recipients in Russian in breach of EU sanctions.
Although the press release does not state as much, it is likely that this individual is the same as is already facing charges relating to earlier exports.
The arrest warrant alleges the export of dual-use high-quality machine tools to an end customer in the Russian defence sector.
We reported in an earlier post that an investigation had been opened in Germany in 2018 in relation to suspected unlawful chemical exports to Japan and United States.
Since then in February 2021 the Regional Court in Oldenburg had ruled that the prosecution of three individuals at VET Pharma Freisoythe GmbH could not proceed based on a technical issue with the implementation of the EU Anti-Torture Regulation into German law.
The prosecutor’s office appealed, and the Higher Regional Court has upheld that appeal and ordered the prosecution to proceed.
The judgment is available here.
Further to an earlier post, the German Federal Court of Justice has today upheld an earlier conviction of two individuals and a company for unlawful exports of assault rifles to Mexico.
The company, Heckler & Koch, had appealed the earlier judgment and the confiscation of its gross profits from the sales. The two convicted individuals had also appealed.
The Federal Court has upheld the earlier judgment finding that the company had falsified export licence applications to mask the final destination for the weapons.
Further to our earlier post, it has been reported today that the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg has sentenced two men to prison for supplying machine tools to a Russian arms company.
The first defendant received a sentence of three years and nine months. In addition, almost €8 million in profits from the sale of the machinery will be confiscated
The second defendant was sentenced to two years’ probation for aiding and abetting with a payment of €150,000 to secure that probation. A further €184,000 are to be confiscated.
Further to our earlier post, the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office has issued a press release confirming that charges have now been laid against two individuals – Alexander S. and Alexander O.
The allegations relate to the export of machine tool to a Russian state-owned arms company valued at €8 million between January 2016 and January 2018.
The customer is also said to be a designated person under EU regulation 269/2014.
It has been reported today that customs officials in the Bavarian city of Augsburg have today arrested Alexander S. on suspicion of exporting machinery to Russia in breach of the EU’s trade sanctions.
Premises have been raided in Bavaria, Saxony and Berlin.
The exports are alleged to have valued over €8m and to have taken place between 2016 and 2018 to military end users.
The allegations include the provision of false information to try and optain export permits.
On Friday the trial in Germany starts of Vladimir D. who is accused of eight counts of exporting dual use goods (both chemicals and equipment) to Russia and allegedly for a military end user in breach of the EU’s sanctions.
The exports are alleged to have taken place between 2014 and 2018.
The man was arrested in late 2018 and raids conducted in Baden-Württemberg. The value of the exports is reported to be €1.83 million.
The Higher Regional Court of Hamburg has today sentenced a man to seven years in jail for exports to Russian in breach of EU sanctions.
Our earlier post had outlined that the man was charged with exports of chemicals and machinery to Russia which could be used in the manufacture of military rockets. False documentation had been created in an attempt to mask the exports.
A trial has commenced in Hamburg of a 69-year old charged with making numerous exports to Russia in breach of EU sanctions.
The man is a Russian national and is alleged to have exported 15kg of Decaboran which is used to make rocket propellant and explosives.
He is also alleged to have exported special machinery used to manufacture rockets. The total value of the exports is said to be over €1.8 million.
