Day: July 11, 2019

On 10^th July, Osborne Clarke published an article saying that the UK’s 5^th deferred prosecution agreement, announced on 4^th July, marks a significant evolution of the DPA regime in the UK and a number of interesting points emerge from the judgment, which are likely to inform the way in which it progresses in the coming years.  It involved Serco Geografix Limited, a now dormant company within the overall structure of Serco Group PLC, and which was ordered to pay a financial penalty of £19.2 million and pay the SFO’s costs of £3.7 million.  The cases involved misrepresentations made by SGL in connection with the contract for electronic tagging of individuals on behalf of the MoJ.  The firm concludes that the involvement of parent companies can be expected to be a recurring feature of DPA in the future.  In this case, the beneficiary of the fraud was the Serco parent company, but it could not be included within the DPA as its senior personnel were not complicit in the fraud, but the Court agreed that it was appropriate for Serco Group to provide what is a clearly an onerous undertaking.

https://www.osborneclarke.com/insights/uk-deferred-prosecution-agreements-fifth-instalment-serco-judgment-represents-significant-development-dpa-regime/

 

This blog is primarily for my own use, to keep informed and up to date. However, if you would like to say thank you (and perhaps help me get a new, better laptop when I am away…) you can “buy me a coffee” at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y

On 9^th July, Womble Bond Dickinson published an article saying that the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) will release Incoterms® 2020 in early September 2019, with the new rules coming into effect on 1^st January 2020 (i.e. after the planned date for the EU to finally depart the EU).  It will be possible to continue to use the current 2010 version of Incoterms® in commercial contracts after the new version comes into effect, but only if clearly specified.  The firm advises that, given the enhanced role of Incoterms® in post-Brexit trade, businesses involving import or export should use the time between September 2019 and the Brexit deadline to review and update their standard contract documentation, including terms used for trade between the UK and the EU27.  This is both to ensure consistency with the new rules, and to ensure that the selected Incoterms® and other contract provisions appropriately allocate risk and responsibility between the parties.  The firm warns that Brexit significantly increases the commercial risks that might flow from inadvertently basing a supply arrangement on Incoterms® that do not meet the parties’ requirements, or of continuing to use Incoterms® that have a significantly different risk profile once Brexit has occurred – and this is particularly true of Incoterms® that allocate responsibility for customs and other border clearance issues, such as import or export licences.

https://www.womblebonddickinson.com/uk/insights/articles-and-briefings/brexit-incotermsr-2020-and-contract-reviews

 

This blog is primarily for my own use, to keep informed and up to date. However, if you would like to say thank you (and perhaps help me get a new, better laptop when I am away…) you can “buy me a coffee” at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y

An article in the Guardian on 11^th July was concerned with investigations into alleged corrupt practices of logistics company, Bosasa, and the the most dramatic evidence yet of corruption within the ruling African National Congress (ANC).  It says that after the ban on the ANC was lifted, companies, fronted by black owners and managers, obtained shares in mining companies and contracts from the state. “black economic empowerment” (or BEE) is the state’s primary means of economic redistribution, an affirmative-action plan stipulating that anyone wishing to do business with the state has to have a certain quota of black ownership and management.  Former president Jacob Zuma has been named in testimony as allegedly receiving gifts from the owner of Bosasa and playing a role in stopping the prosecution of his company, which first came under investigation in 2007.  The case is cited as an example of “state capture” – the way in which private individuals and companies have commandeered organs of state to redirect public resources into their own hands, and have gutted those institutions responsible for protecting the country against such corruption.  These include the police, the prosecution authority, the tax collection service and even parliament itself.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/11/state-capture-corruption-investigation-that-has-shaken-south-africa

 

This blog is primarily for my own use, to keep informed and up to date. However, if you would like to say thank you (and perhaps help me get a new, better laptop when I am away…) you can “buy me a coffee” at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y

The Business Times and others on 11^th July reported that Subhash Kapoor, 70, a former New York art dealer who the authorities describe as one of the world’s largest smugglers of antiquities, was charged with running a multinational ring that trafficked in thousands of stolen objects, valued at more than $145 million, over 30 years.  He is currently jailed in India, where he has been awaiting trial on similar charges for nearly 8 years.  Some 2,600 antiquities, valued at more than $107 million, have been seized from storage locations Kapoor controlled in New York during a decade-long investigation, with objects from Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand.  Kapoor was charged along with 7 co-conspirators, most of them overseas, who would also require extradition to the US.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/life-culture/us-art-dealer-charged-in-us145m-smuggling-ring

 

This blog is primarily for my own use, to keep informed and up to date. However, if you would like to say thank you (and perhaps help me get a new, better laptop when I am away…) you can “buy me a coffee” at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y

UPI on 11^th July reported that 5 Iranian military gunboats unsuccessfully attempted to detain a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.  The British Heritage was approached by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards boats in the Strait of Hormuz and ordered to enter Iranian territorial waters.  HMS Montrose was less than 5 miles behind the tanker when it was approached and threatened to open fire if the Iranian gunboats did not disengage.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/07/11/Iranian-gunboats-fail-to-seize-British-tanker-US-threatens-sanctions-over-enriching-uranium/4271562820146/

 

This blog is primarily for my own use, to keep informed and up to date.  However, if you would like to say thank you (and perhaps help me get a new, better laptop when I am away…) you can “buy me a coffee” at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y