US TO SANCTION RUSSIAN VESSEL BUILDING NORD STREAM 2 GAS PIPELINE IN BALTIC SEA

On 18 January, Rferl reported that the Trump Administration has told government officials in Berlin and other European capitals that the sanctions on the Fortuna ship would be under existing legislation known as CAATSA. The sanctions would punish any European company that helps Fortuna complete the Nord Stream 2 project, which is designed to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany across the Baltic seabed.

https://www.rferl.org/a/us-sanctions-nord-stream-ship-fortuna-russia-ukraine-germany/31051506.html

Meanwhile –

NORD STREAM 2 CONSORTIUM SAYS COMPLETION OF PROJECT CAN PROCEED

On 18 January, Insurance Marine News reported that the Nord Stream 2 consortium had announced on 15 January that preparatory work to complete the subsea gas pipeline to Germany in Danish waters could go ahead. The Gazprom-led consortium pointed to the latest notifications from the Danish Maritime Authority. It also mentioned that the 2010-built, Russia-flagged, 40,978 gross tonnage Fortuna is owned and managed by Universal Transport Group LLC of Moscow, Russia.

https://insurancemarinenews.com/insurance-marine-news/nord-stream-2-consortium-says-completion-of-project-can-proceed/

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BVI: INQUIRY INTO CLAIMS OF CORRUPTION AND POLITICAL INTERFERENCE – ALL WITH THE PUBLIC PURSE

On 18 January, Sky News reported that the Foreign Secretary says he was “extremely concerned about the state of good governance” in the British territory. Claims of widespread corruption and fraud involving millions of pounds of public money are being investigated. The governor has ordered an independent inquiry into the allegations and is supported by both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. One of the claims is that $40 million set aside for struggling families during the COVID pandemic might have been channelled to political allies.

https://news.sky.com/story/british-virgin-islands-inquiry-into-claims-of-corruption-and-political-interference-all-with-the-public-purse-12191823

CFATF REPORT OF REGIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORIST FINANCING CASES

On 15 January, the FATF-style regional body for the Caribbean prepared in November a compilation of cases based on regional money laundering and terrorist financing investigations. The report categorises these cases, some of which show money flows across corridors; fraud involving politically exposed persons; and COVID-19 related fraud. It is a compilation of 13 sanitised cases received from 7 CFATF member countries. No terrorist financing typology cases were submitted to the CFATF Risk Trends and Methods Group (CRTMG), a working group of the CFATF.

https://www.cfatf-gafic.org/home-test/english-documents/cfatf-resources/14985-cfatf-report-of-regional-money-laundering-and-terrorist-financing-cases

A DEEPER LOOK AT HOW MARINE FUEL IS STOLEN IN SINGAPORE

On 17 January, an article in Channel News Asia follows a case in which almost a dozen Shell employees were charged, and also implicated are employees of a major Singapore fuel supplier, a London-listed firm that certifies fuel quantities, and a Vietnamese shipping company. Reuters reported in 2018 that about S$200 million worth of oil was stolen over several years from the Shell refinery, which is its largest petrochemical production and export centre in the Asia-Pacific. Employees used methods like moving the misappropriated oil through unmonitored routes, timing the illegal loading of oil with legitimate transfers, and tampering with meters that measure oil passing through. However, the article says that the Shell incident is just the pinnacle of the often small-time but widespread crime that is marine fuel theft.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/shell-bukom-heist-marine-fuel-bunker-theft-mpa-13829172

UK: THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE END OF THE BREXIT TRANSITION PERIOD ON THE JMLSG GUIDANCE

The Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG), a private sector body that is made up of the leading UK Trade Associations in the financial services industry, has published guidance on the implications of the end of the Brexit transition period on the JMLSG Guidance. It is intended to provide signposting to areas within the JMLSG Guidance that are impacted by the completion of the UK’s exit from the EU on 31 December. The most obvious change is that the definition of a ‘third country’ has become a country other than the UK, as opposed to outside the EEA. EEA entities are therefore third country entities for the purposes of AML.

https://jmlsg.org.uk/latest-news/the-implications-of-the-end-of-the-brexit-transition-period-on-the-jmlsg-guidance/

EXTRATERRITORIAL SANCTIONS ON TRADE AND INVESTMENTS AND EUROPEAN RESPONSES

On 15 January, the Centre for European Policy Studies published a report saying that recent US measures directed against Iran, Cuba and Russia (re North Stream 2) have indirectly become a critical challenge for the EU as well, and that a review of the existing sanction regimes and of the geopolitical context reveals that other international players, including China, may follow suit in using such measures. The report shows that extraterritorial sanctions have considerable economic implications, particularly for the EU and its vulnerabilities. Extraterritorial sanctions also raise critical questions as to their legality under general international law, WTO law and other specific international rules. The EU is especially affected by these measures and has already taken some measures of its own in response. These could be improved and additional measures taken, as the policy recommendations set out.

https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-publications/extraterritorial-sanctions-on-trade-and-investments-and-european-responses/

OUTCRY OVER POWER OUTAGES, SMOG FORCES IRAN TO ACT AGAINST BITCOIN MINERS

On 17 January, Rferl reported that Iranian authorities are blaming power outages and worsening air pollution in cities across the country on the energy drain caused by bitcoin mining operations. In August 2019, facing strangling US economic sanctions, Iran eased its restrictions on cryptocurrencies in an attempt to break economic isolation by circumventing the traditional financial markets Tehran has been blocked from using. Iranian authorities admit that thousands of “illegal” cryptocurrency farms also have sprouted up across the country.

https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-smog-bitcoin-mining/31049437.html

TAIWAN: SU VOWS TO CRACK DOWN ON CORRUPTION INVOLVING JUDGES

On 18 January, RTI reported that Premier Su Tseng-chang has vowed to crack down on a corruption scandal involving judges, prosecutors and investigators, after 20 judges were found to have taken gifts from or had improper contact such as dining with a rich businessman named Weng Mao-chung.

https://en.rti.org.tw/news/view/id/2004686