On 22nd December, US law firm Wilmer hale provided a timely and useful briefing on the function of the Magnitsky sanctions being implemented by the US. It explains that the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act authorises the President to designate those alleged to be involved in human rights abuses or facilitating corruption. Recently, 52 new names were added to the SDN list maintained by OFAC, with the Act being cited as the basis for their listing.
In the light of the Act, Wilmer hale warns that companies — which already should be focused on anti-corruption and anti-bribery issues — must consider human rights and anti-corruption compliance risks more expansively than ever before, as OFAC is now capable of imposing sanctions that reach commercial and financial relationships in every foreign jurisdiction based on the conduct of foreign government officials. It goes on to say that Magnitsky sanctions are capable of being broad and undefined, raise new compliance challenges, increase a business’s potential exposure in high-risk jurisdictions, and reflect the interaction between the new sanctions type and the FCPA.
Recommended reading.
https://www.wilmerhale.com/pages/publicationsandnewsdetail.aspx?NewsPubId=17179886340
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