Netherlands – European Sanctions Enforcement

April 22, 2024 by Mark Handley

European Sanctions Enforcement – milestone of over 2000 announced and active investigations reached

With the recent news that Finland has increased the number of its ongoing investigations, Europe (meaning the EU, the UK, Switzerland, etc) has reached the milestone of over 2,000 ongoing and public sanctions enforcement investigations being undertaken by regulators and prosecutors.

No doubt there are other investigations which are ongoing in the countries shown on the graph, and no doubt there are investigations ongoing in countries not shown and which remain confidential.

How many of these will be dropped due to inconclusive evidence or exculpatory evidence, and how many will lead to a conviction or fine or acquittal is impossible to say.

It is, without question, an unprecedented level of enforcement.

April 19, 2024 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – four month prison sentence for breach of ISIS sanctions

The Court of Appeal in the Hague has quashed some convictions and upheld others of a suspect charged with terrorist financing and with breaching the EU’s ISIS sanctions.

The underlying actions were the indirect transfer of approximately €4,550 in several tranches to the suspect’s daughter and son-in-law who were then in Syria as part of ISIS.

The Court of Appeal quashed the convictions for terrorist financing saying there was no evidence that that was the suspect’s intention.

The convictions under the EU’s sanctions were, however, upheld with the court noting that intention does not form part of the offence which consists simply of making funds or economic resources available to a designated person.

The defendant was given a four month custodial sentence.

April 16, 2024 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – company convicted of sanctions breaches ordered to be liquidated

As per our earlier post, in November last year the Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands applied to wind up a company convicted of breaching the EU’s sanctions by unlawfully exporting goods to Russia.

Yesterday, the District Court of Gelderland issued its order and judgment in the case. The court granted the application to wind up the company and appointed a liquidator to oversee the process.

The court noted that the company had ceased to trade and that its director and shareholder (also convicted) had fled the Netherlands for Russia.

The court did not grant the Prosecution’s application to immediately turn over all funds in the company’s bank accounts as the proceeds of crime. Rather the court has left the question of what funds are the proceeds of crime “to the liquidator to make an independent assessment”.

The case is an illustration of the powers available to courts post-conviction.

March 27, 2024 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – 137 new investigations into Russian sanctions breaches commenced since September 2023

In not commenting on whether a specific investigation was or was not ongoing , the Dutch Foreign Ministry has confirmed publicly that there are currently 192 ongoing investigations into possible Russian sanctions breaches.

Further to our earlier post from September 2023 there were at that stage 55 ongoing investigations.

The new figures indicate that 137 new investigations have been commenced since September last year.

No further information has been released on the status or nature of those investigations.

March 15, 2024March 15, 2024 by Mark Handley

European sanctions enforcement: the last two months

This blog has been live now for just over two months.

During that time and by way of recap, a number of states have provided updated enforcement statistics in that period (Finland, Switzerland, Latvia), but the period has also seen a significant volume of new enforcement activity:

Continue reading “European sanctions enforcement: the last two months”

January 23, 2024January 25, 2024 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – three arrested on suspicion of circumventing Russian sanctions

The Dutch FIOD has today announced three arrests as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into suspected exports in circumvention of the EU’s trade sanctions against Russia.

The individuals are two men from Diemen and a woman from The Hague. The men were both directors of a company founded in 2017, and the arrested woman was an employee.

UPDATE: it is now being reported that the Dutch company involved is ETW-Tekhnologiya and that the company’s founder, Mikhail Volovik, is being sought but has not yet been arrested

The goods are described as technological and laboratory goods capable of military use – i.e. dual-use goods.

Searches and witness interviews have taken place in the Netherlands, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Canada.

January 18, 2024 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – sanctions fines imposed by Dutch National Bank upheld and reduced on appeal

An unnamed financial services provider regulated by the Dutch National Bank has challenged fines imposed upon it in relation to KYC and due diligence failings including in relation to sanctions screening.

The DNB had initially fined the provider €1.1m and €625,000, but these were reduced through a review process to €850,000 and €480,940.

The first fine in particular related to allegations of a failure to screen any of the sample of analysed customers against EU and Dutch sanctions lists.

On further appeal to the Rotterdam District Court the fines were upheld but further reduced to €718,841.25 and €451,250.

December 5, 2023January 11, 2024 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – arrests and raids regarding Russian sanctions

It has been reported today that the Dutch authorities, after a tip-off from unnamed US “agencies” have conducted searches at homes and business addresses in Sluis and Rotterdam.

Related search and arrests took place in the Belgium (see our related post) at the same time, and in total across both countries six have been arrested.

The allegations relate to the export of products and technology to Russia.

November 15, 2023January 23, 2024 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – authorities apply to wind up company fined for sanctions breaches

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has announced that it is using its civil powers to apply for the dissolution of a company fined for Russian sanctions breaches and the appointment of a independent liquidator to oversee the process.

For our earlier post regarding the corporate fine see here.

November 1, 2023January 11, 2024 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – custodial sentence and corporate fine

Further to our earlier post regarding the sentence sought against Dmitri K, the sentencing has now been handed down. Dmitri was sentenced, in absentia to 18 months’ in jail, and his (unnamed) company was fined €200,000.

The sentence relates to the export of microchips to Russia, with the court finding that Dmitri K was aware that the exports were unlawful.