Day: August 17, 2020

On 17 August, the Daily Record reported that former Rangers director Imran Ahmad is set to get a public apology and a cash payout from the Crown after being wrongly prosecuted over the Ibrox takeover saga. He was previously the club’s commercial director and was accused of fraud by Police Scotland over the purchase of the club’s assets in 2012. 2 former administrators are also seeking damages after charges against them were dropped.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/former-rangers-director-apology-cash-22537241

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-53806944

On 17 August, The Independent reported that the FBI had arrested Representative María Milagros Charbonier over her alleged connection with a long-term conspiracy theory to defraud the government through means of bribery, theft, kickbacks and money laundering.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fbi-arrest-puerto-rico-maria-milagros-charbonier-defraud-government-a9675041.html

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/puerto-rico-legislator-indicted-theft-bribery-and-fraud

A news release from US Customs & Border Protection advised that it has collected $575,000 in penalties following the closure of a civil enforcement action against the importer Pure Circle USA Inc – the first penalty that CBP has issued for imports made with forced labour since a new Act come into force in 2015.  The action stems from an investigation into stevia produced in China by Inner Mongolia Hengzheng Group Baoanzhao Agricultural and Trade LLC that CBP initiated after receiving an allegation from a NGO.  CBP found that the US company had imported at least 20 shipments of stevia powder and derivatives produced from stevia leaves that were processed in China with prison labour in violation of U.S. law, and issued a penalty against the importer.

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-collects-575000-pure-circle-usa-stevia-imports-made-forced-labor

On 17 August, OFAC added the names of 4 Ugandan nationals to the Global Magnitsky sanctions list over their involvement in a false adoption scam. They are said to have participated in a scheme whereby, in certain instances, young children were removed from Ugandan families under promises for “special education” programs and study in the US, and were subsequently offered to US families for adoption. They are said to have sought out vulnerable families in remote Ugandan villages to manipulate parents — who often could not read or write English — into giving their children up for adoption under false pretences. Once removed from their homes, many of the children were placed primarily into an unlicensed children’s home in Kampala, and many were made to appear before courts as though they were in fact orphans.  Then unwitting American prospective adoptive parent(s) would then arrive in Uganda to adopt the children and bring them back to the US.

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20200817.aspx

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1095

On 15 August, the Daily Mail reported that Jon Andrewes, 67, was appointed chairman of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) ahead of 117 other candidates. RCHT has a budget of about £380 million and employs 5,000 staff at 3 hospitals. His CV — experience aside — pointed to a man of considerable intellect and academic prowess. It was the latest in a string of top-level positions Mr Andrewes held in the NHS. He also chaired the Torbay NHS Care Trust where he worked for the best part of a decade. But Andrewes should never have got any of these jobs. For his qualifications were made up. It is said that his ‘lies’ helped him earn £1 million (before tax) in 12 years, not just from the NHS but also from a number of charities he ran; most of it has been spent. Any available assets (more than £96,000) were confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2 years ago. But the Court of Appeal has now reversed this decision, arguing that Andrewes had given ‘full value’ for the salary and benefits he received — even though he had obtained the roles fraudulently.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8629497/Questions-raised-former-builder-used-fake-CVs-NHS-boss-make-1million.html

On 17 August, The Africa report reported that a legal fight in Canada’s courts was sparked by the seizure at Montreal airport of an Isle of Man-registered jet suspected of belonging to former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete – who is currently on trial for corruption in Italy. Etete is accused of being involved in one of the continent’s biggest corruption scandals: the award in 2011 of $1.3 billion of oil block OPL 245 to the major oil companies Shell and ENI.

https://www.theafricareport.com/37737/nigeria-canada-legal-fight-over-a-seized-private-jet

On 17 August, HMRC published risk assessment information provided to trust or company service providers under the Money Laundering Regulation to assist relevant persons in carrying out their own money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment. In introduction its says that the UK National Risk Assessment 2017 assessed Trust and Company Service Providers (TCSP) as posing a relatively high risk, that risk increasing when provided with other financial, legal or accountancy services. TCSP outside of these sectors are assessed as medium risk for money laundering, and low for terrorist financing.  It says that it is important that businesses understand and properly appraise the risk presented by each customer or class of customer and properly reflect this in their risk assessment; and that a business puts in place policies, controls and procedures to assess and address the varying level of risks presented by their customers.  A table lists risk characteristics and comments for each.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-risks-and-taking-action-for-trust-or-company-service-providers/understanding-risks-and-taking-action-for-trust-or-company-service-providers

On 17 August, an Advisory from law firm Walkers posed this question, saying that the revised September deadline for company boards to approve money laundering and terrorist financing business risk assessments (following the publication of a revised Handbook by the FSC) is fast approaching.  It also says that, at this stage, it seems reasonable to assume that Guernsey’s next Moneyval assessment will proceed in 2021 or 2022 (broadly in line with original expectations).  It says that it is important for licensees and relevant officers to maintain a regulatory focus and to consider issues that could gain greater regulatory scrutiny.  It says that there is every reason to believe that enforcement activity will increase: the jurisdiction has a legitimate need to demonstrate its commitment to regulation in accordance with developing international standards.  There is also good reason to anticipate an increasing scope for regulatory enforcement action in advance of Moneyval’s next assessment.

https://www.walkersglobal.com/index.php/publications/99-advisory/2122-looking-ahead-to-moneyval-what-is-next-for-guernsey