Day: February 1, 2020

A paper from FATF-style regional body for the Caribbean region dated 1 November looks at ‘de-risking’ (which is defined as the termination or restriction of business relationships with entire countries or classes of customers in order to avoid rather than manage the risks), saying that this remains a challenge for the Caribbean region.  It reports that, in May 2018, the CFATF Plenary approved a stocktaking exercise which was conducted amongst the CFATF 25 member states.  The paper highlights the results of that stock-taking exercise, carried out from June 2018 to April 2019 and the exercise sought to identify the negative impact of de-risking on the region.  It also summarises the current situation and recent activities and events to address the issue by the CFATF and the FATF Global Network.

https://www.cfatf-gafic.org/documents/resources/13667-de-risking-in-the-caribbean-region-a-cfatf-perspective

 

On 1 February, Hellenic Shipping News reported that Norway’s national economic crime unit had raided the local office of international shipping company Teekay Offshore on suspicion of illegally exporting waste.  It is suspected of illegal export of waste, in the form of the shuttle tanker Navion Britannia. The ship sailed from Norway in 2018, and reached Alang, India in July 2018.

https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/norwegian-police-raid-shipping-company-office-over-waste-export/

On 31 January, the Irish Times reported that a Dutch man, Harm Stachouwer, 43, with an address in Andorra has been remanded in custody charged with money laundering following his arrest at a Dublin.  Some € 200,000 was reportedly seized and in further searches an additional significant quantity of cash and a number of gold bars were seized.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/district-court/dutch-man-appears-in-dublin-court-charged-with-money-laundering-1.4157940

On 31 January, Relief Web reported that the UN Security Council had adopted UN SCR 2507, extending the CAR sanctions regime for 6 months to 31 July — including an arms and ammunition embargo, with a number of exemptions — while renewing the mandate its related Panel of Experts for 7 months.   Exemptions from the sanctions include supplies intended solely to support the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and training missions deployed by the EU and France; supplies of non-lethal equipment and assistance intended solely to support the security sector reform process; supplies brought into the country by Chadian or Sudanese forces solely for their use in international patrols; and supplies of non-lethal military equipment intended solely for humanitarian or protective use, among several other exemptions.

https://reliefweb.int/report/central-african-republic/adopting-resolution-2507-2020-security-council-extends-central

 

On 30 January, Mayer Brown published an article about what it describes as a structural legal impediment that underlies failures to successfully prosecute corporate financial crime offences: the identification principle.  The English law ‘identification principle’ requires that the ‘directing mind and will’ of an organisation be responsible for a crime in order for the organisation itself to be prosecuted.  As that directing mind and will is typically limited to directors and executive officers: individuals who rarely are involved in the day-to-day decisions in which financial crime-related offences have their origin – making it is easier for prosecutors to convict a small company, whose executives are more likely to be involved in everyday business decisions, than a large one.

https://www.mondaq.com/Article/888520

On 31 January, HM Treasury published updated guidance from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, including a new booklet – Financial Sanctions: General Guidance.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-faqs#history

On 31 January, following the publication of the latest mutual evaluation reports, FATF published an updated consolidated schedule of AML/CFT ratings.

http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/4th-Round-Ratings.pdf

On 31 January, FATF published the reports on these two jurisdictions undertaken by the FATF-style regional body, CFATF.

Bermuda ratings –

Turks & Caicos ratings –

http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/mer-fsrb/CFATF-Mutual-Evaluation-Report-Bermuda-2020.pdf

http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/mer-fsrb/CFATF-Mutual-Evaluation-Report-Turks-Caicos-Islands.pdf

 

In the latest AML podcast from RUSI the host Isabella Chase is joined by guests to discuss the most recent money laundering leaks, UK-linked financial crime cases, and the impact that Brexit will have on the financial crime landscape. In the deep dive, she discusses the UK’s Economic Crime Plan with an Associate Fellow at RUSI’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, Helena Wood.  Amongst the topics covered are the Luanda Leaks, UK sanctions after Brexit and the UK Economic Crim Plan, as well as the second-largest money laundering scheme ever uncovered in Northern Ireland (which highlights known weaknesses in due diligence in banks, company formation and money service businesses).

https://www.rusi.org/multimedia/episode-10-leaks-links-and-brexit

On 31 January, OFAC announced the removal of 7 COSCO and Dalian shipping companies from its sanctions lists.  At the same time 1 Chinese individual, Yazhou XU, has been removed from the lists, and the entry for 1 Iranian national, Ali Akbar SALEHI, has been amended.  The US lifted sanctions on 1 of 2 units of the Chinese tanker company COSCO, partially reversing its punishment on the company for transporting Iranian oil after China complained about the measure in trade talks with Washington.

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20200131.aspx

https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/u-s-lifts-iran-sanctions-on-one-unit-of-chinese-shipping-giant-cosco/