A release on Mondo Visione on 31 August advised that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities and markets regulator, has published a list of the thresholds above which shareholders can be identified in the various Member States of the EU. The document includes the national thresholds for shareholder identification in Member States that have established such a threshold and the relevant national legislation and rules.
Day: August 31, 2020
SEC UPDATED LIST OF UNREGISTERED ENTITIES USING MISLEADING INFORMATION TO SOLICIT PRIMARILY NON-US INVESTORS
A release on Mondo Visione on 31 August advised that the US SEC had announced that it updated its list of unregistered entities that use misleading information to solicit primarily non-US investors, adding 23 soliciting entities, 8 impersonators of genuine firms, and 7 bogus regulators.
The so-called PAUSE List is at –
https://www.sec.gov/enforce/public-alerts
The new additions are listed at –
FORMER VANUATU PM CHARLOT SALWAI TO APPEAR IN SUPREME COURT TO ENTER A PLEA IN RELATION TO CHARGES OF BRIBERY AND PERJURY
On 31 August, Radio New Zealand reported that 3 other former members of his government are also facing bribery charges which stem from complaints filed by the former leader of the opposition and the now Deputy Prime Minister, who claimed that in November 2016, the defendants bribed MPs to sign an ultimately failed motion of no confidence.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/424931/former-vanuatu-pm-to-enter-plea
US: BVI COMPANY PLEADS GUILTY TO MONEY LAUNDERING AS PART OF SCHEME TO CIRCUMVENT NORTH KOREAN SANCTIONS AND DECEIVE BANKS
A news release from US DoJ on 31 August advised that the Yang Ban Corporation, a company established in BVI in 2014 and operated in SE Asia had pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder monetary instruments in connection with evading sanctions on North Korea and deceiving correspondent banks into processing US dollar transactions. The company will pay a financial penalty totalling $673,714.04. Pleading guilty, Yang Ban admitted and accepted responsibility for its criminal conduct.
EX-VENEZUELA OIL OFFICIAL APPEARS IN MIAMI COURT AFTER FLEEING VENEZUELA
On 31 August, BNN Bloomberg reported that Carmelo Urdaneta Aqui, a former legal counsel to Venezuela’s powerful oil ministry, had appeared in federal court in Miami in connection with a years-long bribery and laundering investigation. He pleaded not guilty to charges that he took part in a billion-dollar corruption scheme that helped torpedo the oil-rich nation’s economy. Urdaneta fled Venezuela and was picked up at the Colombian border by US federal agents, who took him to Florida. It is said that Urdaneta could provide US prosecutors with a view into the circle of President Nicolas Maduro and the business elite who rose to riches in Venezuela, several of whom are the focus of the US investigation of corruption.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/ex-venezuela-official-appears-in-miami-court-after-fleeing-1.1487512
WHY COMPANIES AROUND THE WORLD ARE REVERSING COURSE ON IRAN BUSINESS
On 11 August, Iran Watch from the Washington-based Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control looks at the situation following the re-imposition of US sanctions in November 2018. It tracks the gradual changes and the increasing efforts of the Trump Administration. It includes a “business tracker” showing how companies around the world have been abandoning trade and investment with Iran that they had resumed following the JCPOA, it comprises a table which relies on news media sources to track the decisions by these companies and, which is sortable by industry, country, and date, and updated on a rolling basis as new announcements are made.
SINGAPORE TIGHTENS STRATEGIC GOODS CONTROLS
On 31 August, an article from Baker McKenzie saying that Singapore updated its strategic goods control regime to ensure robust administration of controls and effective risk assessments, while ensuring the facilitation of legitimate trade. Key amendments include ensuring individual and bulk permit holders have access to English translations for strategic trade records kept in other languages. For bulk permit-holders, expanded document categories under recordkeeping requirements and monthly reporting will apply. A new offence has also been created for failing to amend permits in the event that information submitted under initial permit application processes subsequently change. It advises those affected to review current processes.
https://globalcompliancenews.com/singapore-tightens-strategic-goods-controls-13082020/
UNODC: PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR PUBLIC ORGANISATIONS ON HOW TO CONDUCT CORRUPTION RISK ASSESSMENTS
On 31 August, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has launched a practical guide for public organisations on how to conduct corruption risk assessments to identify, mitigate and prevent corruption vulnerabilities in their operations. It sets out an uncomplicated approach to corruption risk mitigation for public institutions, bodies and authorities, using 7 resource efficient steps.
https://www.unodc.org/documents/corruption/Publications/2020/State_of_Integrity_EN.pdf
KENYAN BLOOD IS A HOT COMMODITY FOR REGIONAL CRIMINAL NETWORKS
On 27 August, an article in ENACT Africa reported that investigators are probing the involvement of Kenyan medical professionals in blood-smuggling. This illicit trade in blood donated by Kenyans is leading to an acute shortage in the country’s hospitals.
SWEEPING ILLEGAL SAND MINING UNDER THE RUG IN UGANDA
An article from ENACT Africa on 10 August said that the largely unregulated industry is costing Uganda in terms of lost revenue, environmental damage and exploitation of vulnerable communities. Sand is a valuable non-renewable commodity used mainly for mega-infrastructure projects in the rapidly expanding African and global construction market – and the high-value and largely unregulated industry is estimated to account for 85% of all mineral exploration in the world. Unregulated extraction, especially around Uganda’s Lake Victoria, is destabilising the area’s sensitive ecology. There’s also evidence that it threatens local rural livelihoods, including both fishing and agriculture. The mining is labour-intensive, employing men and youth, most of whom are underaged children.
https://enactafrica.org/enact-observer/sweeping-illegal-sand-mining-under-the-rug-in-uganda
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