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.
The Dutch authorities have announced the criminal seizure of €137 million suspected of being related to breaches of the Dutch Sanctions Act by a legal entity owned or controlled by a person recently added to the EU’s list of designated persons.
The Court of Appeal in the Hague has upheld the conviction of an individual on charges of breaching the EU sanctions against terrorist organisations.
Amongst other charges the individual was charged with making a financial transfer through intermediaries in Turkey and/or Syria to ISIS.
The man was sentenced to 9 months, of which 3 was conditional.
The Rotterdam District Court has convicted a manager of a wholesale business of exports to Syria in breach of EU sanctions.
The export was of 128,000 litres of acetone, which is a product listed in Annex IX of the EU regulation.
The sentence was for a three month sentence suspended for 2 years and 180 hours of community service. This was lower than sought by the prosecution.
The company responsible for the exports was acquitted on the basis that the prosecution only commenced after it had already been wound up.
It was reported today that the Dutch port authorities in Rotterdam have seized 90,000 bottles of vodka allegedly destined for North Korea. The vessel was first to sail to China.
Such an export would be a breach of the EU’s sanctions against North Korea. The Dutch authorities have not commented on the source of the intelligence used to identify the alleged destination of the goods.
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.
The Dutch National Bank has issued a public instruction to Corporate Trust Services BV in relation to its failed compliance with the due diligence and screening requirements of the Sanctiewet 1977.
No fine has been imposed.
The Rotterdam District Court has convicted an individual for the financial transfer of €471 in breach of the EU’s sanctions against ISIS.
In light of other offences, the man was sentenced to 18 months in jail, with 6 months conditional and a probation period of 3 years.
The District Court of Rotterdam has imposed a two-month suspended sentence on an individual for the transfer of €200 to his brother.
The brother was fighting for ISIS in Syria and so the transfer was in breach of EU sanctions.
The Rotterdam District Court has heard an appeal against fines imposed by the Dutch National Bank on a trust office.
The fines were of €593,750 and €10,000.
Some aspects of the appeal were upheld and the fines were reduced, but the court agreed with the KYC failings (including related to sanctions screening) and imposed revised fines of €534,375 and €9,000.
