Day: July 14, 2020

An article in Der Spiegel on 14 July said that a Prosecutor’s Office has been searching the premises of the Customs-run FIU in Cologne on suspicion of criminal misconduct in office. It is said that it is alleged that the FIU failed to properly forward 8 suspected money laundering reports about transfers to African states to law enforcement authorities.  The article lays out various criticisms made of the FIU, which had been transferred to Customs from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in 2017. It has been claimed that FIU reports, which went to the police and prosecutors, were often incomplete, flawed and generally useless.

https://www-spiegel-de.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/verdacht-auf-strafvereitelung-ermittler-gehen-gegen-zoll-spezialeinheit-fiu-vor-a-8d657c7f-f570-4a16-85c0-82134da79905-amp

 

 

 

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A post on the always interesting FCPA Blog on 14 July is concerned with the new ISO standard, saying that it provides for a flexible infrastructure that facilitates information exchange and helps to harmonise the payments language between old and new technologies.  Its focus is said to be on getting the global financial community on the same page and removing the barriers that complicate compliance.  The post argues that the new message format will speed up payments and increase transparency, improve sanctions screening, and help organisations better detect and prevent financial crime. ISO 20022 uses a central dictionary of business items used in financial communications.  Its objective is said to be to enable communication interoperability between financial institutions, their market infrastructures and their end-user communities.  The website for the new standard includes Powerpoint presentations introducing and explaining it.

https://fcpablog.com/2020/07/14/iso-20022-will-change-sanctions-compliance-forever/

https://www.iso20022.org/

https://www.iso20022.org/about-iso-20022

https://www.iso20022.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/Scripted_ISO_20022_ppt_long_version_v182_0.ppt

 

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Following up the Home Office news release of 13 July which advised that extreme right-wing group Feuerkrieg Division was to be proscribed in the UK, the BBC on 13 July reported that the Feuerkrieg Division (FKD), an international group that largely existed online, said earlier this year it had dissolved.  FKD was created in late 2018 and sought recruits online, particularly through its channels on encrypted messaging applications. The leader is said to be a boy, who used the alias “Commander”, who was identified this year by the Estonian Internal Security Service.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53392036

 

 

 

 

 

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On 14 July, an article from OCCRP reported that the recent record-breaking shipment of amphetamines seized by Italian authorities may not have been manufactured by terrorist group ISIS, as was first believed, but by the Syrian regime itself.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/12736-assad-regime-implicated-in-massive-captagon-bust

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 14 July, HM Treasury issued a Notice advising that there have been corrections for 49 listings in the Libya sanctions regime. These amendments bring the UK Consolidated List into line with Annex II and Annex III to EU Regulation 2016/44/EU.

The Isle of man followed suit on 14 July.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/900354/Notice_Libya_Corrections.pdf

https://www.gov.im/news/2020/jul/14/financial-sanctions-libya/

 

 

 

 

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On 13 July, the South China Morning Post reported that China is amending its criminal code to cover trade secrets theft by foreign businesses, a change that could give it a tool to retaliate against the US for alleged economic espionage. The new clause will target any person or company that “steals, spies, buys, or illegally provides trade secrets to foreign institutions, organisations, and personnel”.

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3092939/china-sharpens-economic-espionage-penalties-tit-tat-provision

 

 

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