Day: August 21, 2019

Calvin Ayre on 21^st August reported that from 21^st October Paypal will cease offering its services (in line with its revised terms and conditions) after the government ordered the payment processor to stop facilitating unauthorised online casino activity.  Schleswig-Holstein is the only German state to have issued online casino licences – but even these have now expired.

https://calvinayre.com/2019/08/21/business/paypal-halts-german-online-casino-payments/

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The Department for International Trade has announced that, on 2^nd August, a new OGIL was published, replacing the previous version.  In effect, the OGIL allows the import into the UK of any goods unless they are covered by one of the many exceptions – when they may require a specific licence or be prohibited or restricted in some way.  These prohibitions and restrictions may be under UK or EU law.  However, it should be noted that just because goods are covered by the OGIL, this does not mean that there may not be other importation, taxation or legal restrictions, including under relevant EU laws, that may be involved.  Whilst most import controls are contained in EU law (at least until the effects of Brexit are felt),  EU law does allow that Member States may maintain or impose some national controls in some circumstances and the OGIL is about these national controls.  Member States can, for example, impose restrictions on the movements of firearms including (on public security grounds) firearms from elsewhere in the EU.  The advantage of the OGIL model is that national measures can be immediately implemented – by adding to the OGIL an exception to the general permission to import.  The amendments being made in the new OGIL relate to changes in the control of so-called bumpstocks and rifles with a chamber from which empty cartridge cases are extracted using energy from propellant gas or energy imparted to a spring or other energy storage device by propellant gas.  A bumpstock is an attachment that allows a semi-automatic rifle to mimic a fully automatic weapon’s rate of fire.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/826687/notice-to-importers-2924-ogil-update-dated-2-august-2019.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/824334/explanatory-note-ogil-dated-2-august-2019.pdf

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OCCRP on 21^st August carried an article saying that a high-profile trial against businessmen, a former minister, and 2 dozen accomplices shines a spotlight on illicit cigarette production, widespread smuggling, and the government’s struggle to hold its officials accountable.  Well-connected businessman, Awni Mutee, is charged with tax evasion, bribery, trademark imitation, smuggling, and money laundering.  Prosecutors say Mutee produced counterfeit cigarettes in Jordan’s low-tax, free trade zones, which are designed exclusively for goods manufactured for export, then used his government connections to smuggle them onto the domestic market and sell them throughout the country.  The case is described as a rare case involving the prosecution of high-level corruption.  Among the defendants are Wadah Al-Hamoud, Jordan’s former general director of Customs, and Mounir Aweys, a former Minister of Water and Irrigation.

https://www.occrp.org/en/blog/10533-fake-cigarette-ring-exposes-jordan-s-corruption-woes

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On 21^st August, FinCEN issued a new Advisory intended to alert financial institutions to financial schemes related to the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Information in the advisory will assist them in detecting and reporting related criminal activity.  It includes Red Flags that should alert one to the risks.

https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/advisory/2019-08-21/Fentanyl%20Advisory%20FINAL%20508.pdf

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On 20^th August, Defense One carried an article saying that a Defense Intelligence Agency team is using artificial intelligence to map the shadowy production-and-distribution networks of synthetic drugs.  It is said that tracking fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, which can be made almost anywhere, is harder than tracking cocaine, which is processed by relatively few cartels in relatively few places in South America.  It says that a program, called SABLE SPEAR, ingests data from 43 million websites, 8 million of the cargo receipts dubbed “bills of lading,” a billion satellite images, and about 20 other data sources.  Algorithms help researchers to draw connections that would otherwise be invisible.

https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2019/08/military-scientists-harness-ai-fight-synthetic-opioids/159331

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On 21^st August, OFAC announced the adding of 3 Chinese individuals, plus the QINSHENG PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGY CO LTD and the ZHENG DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION (said to be a vendor of “research chemicals”).

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20190821.aspx

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm756

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On 21^st August, HM Treasury announced the addition of 2 names to the Consolidated List of those subject to sanctions, following the UN and EU listing Ali MAYCHOU and Bah AG MOUSSA.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/826749/Notice_ISIL_2019_1353.pdf

https://www.gov.im/news/2019/aug/21/financial-sanctions-isil-daesh-and-al-qaida/

 

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