Day: February 24, 2019

24^th February 2019

 FOR KURDISH SMUGGLERS, IRAN SANCTIONS ARE STARTING TO BITE

On 24^th February, Foreign Policy published an interesting article, with amazing photos, about the kolbars, Kurd porters who smuggle goods from Iraq to Iran over a mountain range.  Unofficial estimates say that 20,000 people per year operate as smugglers.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/02/24/for-kurdish-smugglers-iran-sanctions-are-starting-to-bite/

SWEDISH PM VOWS SECTOR-WIDE SCRUTINY AFTER MONEY LAUNDERING ALLEGATIONS

The Local on 23^rd February reported that the Swedish Prime Minister said that his government will take a hard look at the nation’s financial sector in the wake of allegations that Swedbank, one of Sweden’s largest banks, may have been used for money laundering of billions of kronor.  When asked if the Swedbank scandal is an indication that there needs to be more stringent governmental action to combat money laundering the PM answered in the affirmative.  A recent TV documentary showed documents with significant transactions in the Baltic countries between Danske Bank and Swedbank, taking place between 2007 and 2015, including companies without contact information or telephone numbers, many sharing the same UK address.

https://www.thelocal.se/20190223/swedish-pm-vows-sector-wide-scrutiny-after-money-laundering-allegations

US COURT RULING OFFERS GUIDANCE FOR COMPANIES SEEKING INJUNCTIONS TO PROTECT TRADE SECRETS

On 23^rd February, McAfee & Taft published an article which says that companies routinely have employees sign confidentiality agreements and, to the extent they are enforceable, non-solicitation and non-competition agreements.  It says that seeking an injunction against a former employee and competitor, when there is a threat of a former employee misappropriating trade secrets or soliciting customers or employees in breach of an agreement, it may be a little too late if the damage is already done.  Companies must show that there is a sufficient probability of a future irreparable harm – the evidence needed to show future harm may be more than many companies expect.

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/ruling-offers-guidance-for-companies-91947/

RUSSIA ACCUSES MOLDOVA’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY LEADER OF MONEY LAUNDERING 2 DAYS BEFORE ELECTIONS

UA Wire reported on 23^rd February that Russian police were said to suspect the Moldovan billionaire and leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Moldova, Vladimir Plahotniuc, of illegally withdrawing $500,000 from Russia.

http://uawire.org/russia-accused-moldova-s-democratic-party-leader-of-money-laundering-two-days-before-elections#

SOUTH AFRICA: SPECIAL TRIBUNAL TO HAVE POWERS TO FAST-TRACK PROSECUTIONS AND RECOVER THE PROCEEDS OF CORRUPTION

On 24^th February, the BBC reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa said that a special tribunal is to be set up in South Africa with powers to fast-track prosecutions and recover the proceeds of corruption; and to consider cases brought by the Special Investigating Unit.  The ANC has become tainted by widespread allegations of corruption, which forced out Mr Ramaphosa’s predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47350696

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A RUSSIAN BANK GOES BUST

On 24^th February, Forbes published an article about Promsvyazbank (PSB).  Started in in 1995, its founders turned it into a top 15 Russian bank in 8 years.  By 2010, it had 10,000 employees.  PSB survived 2 crises: the 1998 ruble crisis and the 2014 sanctions crisis – but couldn’t survive the Central Bank of Russia’s demand to recapitalise the bank due to mismanagement.  There is an ongoing investigation in Russia about whether loans it made were fraudulent.  The Ananyev brothers who founded the bank are trying to have court cases in London struck out – but problem is the Ananyev brothers used UK-registered holding companies, with other links to the BVI, the Cayman Islands and Cyprus.  The brothers also used similar links in the smaller Vozrozhdenie Bank that they owned – it is now owned by VTB Bank.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2019/02/24/what-happens-when-a-russian-bank-goes-bust/?src=ilaw#a46ad807655e

On 23^rd February, the Krebbs on Security blog carried a post about the experience of Apex Human Capital Management, which chose to pay the ransom demand and begin the process of restoring service to customers when it had its systems restored.  The company took all of its systems offline, and began notifying customers that it was trying to remediate a security threat.  Outside security advisers agreed was that paying the ransom was the fastest way to get back online; but the company declined to specify how much was paid or what strain of ransomware was responsible for the attack.  However, instead of restoring all files and folders to their pre-encrypted state, the decryption process broke countless file directories and rendered many executable files inoperable.  The post also includes a few tips for preventing and dealing with ransomware attacks.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/02/payroll-provider-gives-extortionists-a-payday/

BNE Intellinews on 24^th February reported allegations that Danske Bank laundered money for the Ukrainian arms mafia’s sanctions-busting activities in North Korea and Iran as early as 2009.  In December 2009, Thai police intercepted a flight en route from North Korea to Iran loaded with 40 tonnes of weaponry, including anti-aircraft rockets. UN investigators established that Danske Bank had laundered money from the deal, the aircraft having been chartered by a New Zealand shell firm, SP Trading Ltd, which banked at Danske Bank’s Estonia branch and, according to the UN, the deal was masterminded Iurii Lunov, a Ukrainian citizen, and Aleksandr Zykov, a citizen of Kazakhstan.  The article claims that Danske Bank continued its relationship to Ukrainian arms traders and processed cash from Equatorial Guinea 2010-14, with money going to Ukrainian arms traders incorporated as a UK shell firm.  It notes that Ukrainian Vladimir Yevdokimov, who was convicted of arms smuggling, is now apparently Russia’s honorary consul to Equatorial Guinea, and still has high ranking connections in Ukraine.

http://www.intellinews.com/danske-bank-laundered-money-for-ukrainian-arms-traffickers-in-north-korea-and-iran-156871/

An article from White & Case on 23^rd February says that, in the event of a “no deal” Brexit, the UK will cease its participation in the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) regime and revert to the 1959 European Convention on Extradition.  This is expected to create substantial legal and political hurdles to the continued EU-UK co-operation on extradition.  Most notably, Germany has already declared it will stop extraditing its nationals to the UK post-Brexit.  It points out that the current extradition regime in the UK is governed by the Extradition Act 2003, where territories with whom the UK shares an extradition relationship are defined as either Part 1 (European Arrest Warrant) or Part 2 (other territories).  Published regulations make provision for amending the 2003 Act so that after Brexit all extradition requests to and from EU states will once again be regulated by the 1959 Act.

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/extradition-back-to-the-future-with-no-87392/