The Dutch Supreme Court has denied an appeal against an 18-month custodial sentence against an individual for his role in seven exports of goods to the National Iranian Gas Company which is a designated person under the EU’s sanctions.
The shipments were made via Turkey or Dubai and the defence argued in the appeal that this was not “indirectly” making economic resources available to a designated person. The Supreme Court disagreed.
HMRC has announced that British national Alexander George has been ordered to pay £700,000 in a confiscation order issued by the Southwark Crown Court. The funds are the proceeds of crime related to his conviction for exporting parts for jet fighters to Iran.
For more on his conviction back in 2018 see our earlier post.
It has been reported today that the Norwegian authorities have charged a German-Iranian national on suspicion of breaching UN sanctions (as implemented in Norway) against Iran.
The person is a professor at a technical university and is alleged to have invited four Iranian scientists to visit a laboratory in breach of Norway’s, and then permitted them access to technical data in breach of sanctions, export control laws, and data breach legislation.
It has been reported today that the German authorities have conducted raids on 11 premises across Hamburg, Schleswig Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, and that one individual (named only as Alexander J) has been arrested on suspicion of the unlawful export of machinery and equipment to Iran in breach of the EU’s sanctions.
The products were alleged to have been destined for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and to have been valued at over €1.1 million.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office press release is here.
Further to our earlier post, following the successful prosecution of two companies for exports to Iran in breach of sanctions, the Dutch authorities have secured confiscation orders against the two companies for the gross profits obtained from the unlawful exports.
The confiscations were of €600,000 and €4 million respectively.
It has been reported that Metro Bank is being investigated in the UK for allegedly receiving funds from Iran in breach of EU sanctions.
The bank has also reported itself to the US authorities in relation to possible breaches of US sanctions against Cuba.
The District Court of East Brabant in the Netherlands has convicted an individual for breaches of the EU’s Iran sanctions. The offence consisted of the export of 5 items to an Iranian person in breach of the EU regulation.
The defendant was acquitted of other charges and was fined €5,000.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has issued a Decision Notice against Standard Chartered Bank including a fine of £102,163,200.
The fine related to KYC failings in general, with a focus on failure to conduct customer due diligence even in situations where sanctions red flags were evident. The FCA noted a lack of financial crime risk, and concerns as to the quality of the advice being given.
A particular focus were the UAE branches of the bank, and also export financing in relation to the export of military goods.
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.
Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court three individuals have been convicted of exporting parts for military aircraft to Iran in breach of sanctions.
Alexander George was given a custodial sentence of 2 and a half years, while Paul Attwater and Iris Attwater were sentenced to suspended sixth months in prison.
The shipments were sent in the name of a BVI company, via, Netherlands, Malaysia and Dubai, but were destined for Iran.
