Lithuania – European Sanctions Enforcement

September 18, 2024September 18, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – seizure of fire trucks exported from Belarus

It is being reported in the Zimbabwe press that 17 fire trucks purchased by the government of Zimbabwe from a supplier in Belarus were seized in March 2023 by the Lithuanian authorities on suspicion of the export and/or sale of the fire trucks breaching the EU’s Belarus sanctions.

It is also being reported that diplomatic efforts by Zimbabwe to secure the release of the trucks have so far been unsuccessful.

The report further states that the trucks are said to contain components manufactured by an entity included as a designated person under the Belarus sanctions.

While an investigation remains ongoing into the transshipment of the fire trucks to Zimbabwe via Lithuania it is unclear on what basis the fire trucks remain detained.

September 10, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – two companies fined for Russian sanctions breaches

The Lithuanian Customs Department has today issued a press release confirming that two companies – unnamed – have each been fined €10,000.

The breaches were the provision of services – described as “temporary storage, clearance of customs documents, representation at customs” – to entities included on the EU’s list of designated persons under the EU’s Russian sanctions.

August 16, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – company fined over €1.2m for importing Russian coal and rubber from designated persons

The Customs Office of Lithuania has issued a press release confirming that it has imposed a fine of €1,274,960 on an unnamed Lithuanian company for the importation of both coal and rubber from Russia in breach of EU sanctions.

The Russian suppliers are themselves said to be the subject of sanctions, but have not been named.

The enforcement action was conducted by the Business Entity Inspections Department of the Kaunas Region.

August 14, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – more than 50 currently-ongoing sanctions investigations

A published interview with Lithuania’s Prosecutor General has stated that the Lithuanian authorities currently have “more than 50 pre-trial investigations into sanctions violations” – including both Russian and Belarusian sanctions.

The interview included mention of the fact that one of the investigations relates to suspected arms smuggling, and that this has been referred to the court for prosecution.

The same article reported on a press release from Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service of yesterday, which stated that seven individuals and four companies are suspected of unlawful exports to Russia valued at nearly €2 million. Searches of 18 different premises have been conducted as part of this investigation.

It is alleged that attempts were made to mask the unlawful exports with false declarations naming different goods, as well as false destinations for the exports to Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus.

Details of the other ongoing investigations were not provided.

August 7, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – company fined €13.6m for sanctioned exports to Russia

The Lithuanian Customs Service has issued a press release regarding a fine of €13,618,175 imposed on a company.

The company had exported vehicles to Russia through third countries Belarus, Kazakhstan and Turkey.

Six tractor semi-trailers were also confiscated.

Although the Customs press release does not name the company, press reports have identified the company as Biovarda based in Vilnius.

The press release also states, opaquely, that “After the Lithuanian customs started to apply stricter inspection measures, it is not the first time that such sanctions have been applied to companies for violations of the Law on International Sanctions”. No ore detail on these other enforcements was provided.

July 11, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – company operating crypto exchange fined €8.23m for EU sanctions violations

Lithuania’s Financial Crimes Investigation Service has imposed a fine of €8.23m for breaches of the EU’s sanctions and a fine of €1.06m for breaches of Lithuania’s Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.

The company fined is UAB Payeer. The press release notes that the company did not cooperate with the investigation and did not provide responses to questions raised.

The investigation commenced after an inspection in 2023 that was conducted after Payeer commenced its operations in Lithuania.

Payeer operated a crypto exchange at Payeer.com which allowed customers to make transfers to or from Russian banks that were designated under EU sanctions.

The AML fine relates to the failure to conduct KYC and the failure to report suspicious transactions.

The press release notes that Payeer had revenues of more than €164m during the 1.5 years of its breaches, but does not note what proportion of this came from prohibited activity.

May 31, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – four suspects being investigated for dual-use exports

Further to our earlier post, it is being reported that the Lithuanian Prosecutor General is now investigating four separate suspects in relation to the alleged export of dual-use goods to Russia by the Vičiūnai Group.

The alleged recipient of the goods, which includes high-priority battlefield items, was a Russian subsidiary within the Vičiūnai Group.

May 13, 2024December 4, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – Customs Office fines company €329,944

The Lithuanian Customs Office has announced in a press release the imposition of a fine of € 329,944 imposed upon an unnamed Lithuanian company.

The fine was for purchasing goods from the Russian companies which are designated under the EU’s sanctions.

Lithuanian Customs noted that this was the first enforcement by them of the EU’s sanctions on Russian designated persons.

May 8, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – investigation commenced into attempted export of luxury cars

It is being reported that he Lithuanian Customs Authority has today prevented the attempted export of two Tesla Cybertrucks valued at over €400,000 and has commenced a preliminary criminal investigation into the case.

The vehicles were being exported to Belarus, but the Customs Authority suspected that Russia was the intended final destination.

The drivers have been questioned and subsequently released.

April 29, 2024 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – investigation commenced into alleged exports to Belarus via Kazakhstan

Following prominent reporting in Lithuania (e.g. here), the Lithuanian Customs Department has confirmed that it has commenced an investigation into the alleged activities of the company UAB Vilpra.

It is alleged that the company exported nearly €1m in air conditioning units to Belarus via Kyrgyzstan in breach of the EU’s sanctions.

The company is reported to deny the allegations and to have stated that it complies with all sanctions.