On 4 June, FATF issued an updated consolidated schedule of countries’ AML/CFT ratings to date, following the publication of follow-up reports on Bhutan and Pakistan.
https://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/4th-Round-Ratings.pdf
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In May, the Center for Security and Emerging Technology in the US published this report examining which types of technologies the Chinese government is most focused on acquiring, and from where. This information is said to have been gleaned from reports submitted by “science and technology diplomats” stationed in PRC embassies and consulates across 52 countries. These coordinate with overseas scientists, professional associations, diaspora guilds, and elements of the United Front Work Department in the countries where they are stationed, to identify opportunities where Chinese companies can grow relationships and invest. Nearly half of all technology projects referred the diplomats originated in Russia, the US, UK, and Japan. Prior to its closure in July 2020, the consulate in Houston, Texas, referred the most projects of any Chinese diplomatic post in the world. However, fewer than 12% of projects in the dataset used originated in the US, but NATO members and US- designated Major Non-NATO Allies hosted more than 70% of the projects targeted by Chinese diplomatic personnel from 2015 to 2020.
https://cset.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/CSET-Chinas-Foreign-Technology-Wish-List.pdf
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On 6 June, the Times of Malta reported that the country was handed a new, hefty to-do list by international assessors from FATF. Assessors from the FATF, who were in Malta in May, have written to the Finance Ministry with a number of reforms and improvements that the country still needs to enact in the fight against financial crime. FATF is said to have referred to low seizures of criminal assets, lax rules on lawyers providing fiduciary services, and the “low quality” of STR by banks and other entities. The heads of 2 Maltese regulators told the Times of Malta that the list of reforms sent by the FATF in recent weeks is lengthy and Malta would need at least a year to adequately address them. The decision over whether Malta will be grey-listed will be taken during a FATF plenary session later this month – there has never been an EU Member State on the grey list before and being placed on it could seriously impact Malta’s ability to do business as well as its attractiveness to foreign investors.
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On 26 May, the Flemish Peace Institute published a report on the Project which focuses on 3 specific diversion methods; theft, fraud and non-regularisation. Available online is the Part devoted to theft. The Project is a research project, funded by the EU Internal Security Fund — Police, which focuses on the diversion of live-firing firearms from the legal domain into the illicit sphere within the EU. It argues that theft is an important diversion method in the EU and statistical evidence shows that large quantities of firearms are diverted through theft each year. The analysis suggests annually between 20,000 to 25,000 firearms are registered as stolen in the EU and says one can expect a rather high number of stolen firearms which are either not noticed or not declared to the authorities. The analysis further demonstrates significant national differences exist in the number of registered stolen firearms. These differences tend to reflect differences in the level of legal firearms holdings, but also other contextual factors such as the dynamics of illicit gun markets seem to play a role. In addition, the number of firearms thefts seems to be decreasing in most Member States. Private individuals are most often targeted in the EU. Perhaps surprisingly, the report says that in most Member States stolen firearms are not the primary types of firearms possessed in the criminal underworld.
https://vlaamsvredesinstituut.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210526-DIVERT2-FirearmsTheft.pdf
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On 4 June, an article from DLA Piper reported on the outcome of a recent Supreme Court case involving a police officer in Georgia who was authorised to access material on the computer system, but raised questions as to the illegality of the extent and use made of the information. It was held that that a person does not “exceed authorized access” to a “protected computer” under the Act when using information obtained from accessing that computer for an unauthorised purpose. The Act creates criminal and civil liability for any person who “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorised access, and thereby obtains” virtually any type of information stored on any computer connected to the Internet. The article warns that the decision will largely gut the Act as a tool for addressing insider data theft. It says that the implications of the decision are “staggering” and outlines some immediate steps for organisations to consider in light of the ruling.
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