Day: September 16, 2021

On 14 September, the human rights group in Switzerland, Public Eye, has developed a satirical handbook for white collar criminals, in an effort to demonstrate the shortcomings of the Swiss systems.  Citizens are also invited to “bribe” the Swiss Minister of Finance to convince him to combat corruption.

https://www.publiceye.ch/en/media-corner/press-releases/detail/corruption-for-dummies-public-eye-offers-advice-to-kleptocrats-on-how-to-best-use-swiss-financial-services

The handbook is at –

https://swisscorruption.ch/en/

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advised that the Nationality and Borders Bill contains new maritime enforcement powers, as the Home Office seeks to extend its activity, beyond the UK territory, beyond UK territorial waters, and into international waters and into foreign waters. In so doing it seeks powers to stop, board, divert, and detain foreign ships and ships without nationality.  It explains the current legislation allowing immigration action at sea, initially dating from a 2016 Act [I recall a Border Force cutter commander complaining that, at the time, having been diverted from anti-smuggling they had no powers to act against a vessel suspected of carrying illegal immigrants until they or the vessel touched UK soil…].

Currently, broadly speaking, immigration powers – in relation to UK waters – as regards a UK ship, a ship without nationality, a foreign ship, and a ship registered under the law of another British territory (e.g. the Isle of Man) can only to be exercised for the purpose of preventing, detecting, investigating or prosecuting various immigration-related criminal offences. 

The new Bill seeks to modify existing maritime enforcement powers and to add new ones. These include the ability to act in foreign or international waters.  In addition, the definition of “ship” is broadened so as to encompass even the small inflatable and other flimsy craft that might be involved.  The Bill also includes new powers to seize and dispose of a ship and its property where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that it has been used in the commission of a relevant immigration-related criminal offence and the ship is in UK waters or otherwise in the UK. 

The author of the article asserts, rightly, that the proposede powers raise issues as to their compatibility with international law commitments by which the UK is bound, such as international maritime law, human rights law, and the Refugee Convention. Those issues are important and deserve discrete consideration.

https://www.ein.org.uk/blog/footsteps-sir-francis-drake-home-office-plans-seas-nationality-and-borders-bill

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On 16 September, following the issue of the mutual evaluation report for Chile, FATF has released an updated consolidated schdule of all AML/CFT ratings to date.

https://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/4th-Round-Ratings.pdf

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On 16 September, the Institute for Science and International Security in the US published a paper on a recent case where the German Federal Prosecutors Office issued an arrest warrant for a German-Iranian citizen who is accused of illegally exporting a multitude of laboratory equipment, including 4 spectrometers, in 3 separate cases, to Iran.  It says that, given the nature of the items involved, the Iranian procurements violated not only German law and EU sanctions Regulations, but appear to have also violated the regulations of the procurement channel of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).  Referring also to earlier cases, it says that the recent case highlights the continued effort of Iran to break trade control laws and sanctions of other countries to procure items for its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and that Iran continues to actively recruit sympathetic or persuadable individuals to acquire commodities for its sensitive programmes. It also highlights that Iran continues to lack the domestic capability to produce certain sophisticated measuring equipment and analytical instruments, such as spectrometry systems essential for a uranium enrichment program, and thus, is forced to seek these items elsewhere.

https://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/Iranian_Illicit_Procurement_Scheme_of_Spectrometry_Systems_Busted_September_16_2021_Final.pdf

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On 16 September, OFAC announced that it had designated 4 Turkish and an Egyptian national operating in Turkey and who provided a range of financial and travel facilitation services to al-Qaida. 

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20210916_33

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0358

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On 16 September, OFAC announced that it had identified Zulma Maria Musso Torres (Musso Torres) as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.  Musso Torres (aka “La Patrona” or “La Señora”) is the leader of an international drug trafficking organisation (DTO) primarily based in Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia.  OFAC has designated members of his organisation, which includes his 2 sons and 2 Colombian entities – Exclusive Import Export SAS and Poligono Santa Marta SAS.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/126/20210916_musso_torres_chart.pdf

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20210916

On 15 September, an article from Omni Bridgeway was concerned with a recent case in England involving the question of champerty and of funding assigned claims held in a special purpose vehicle (SPV), possibly owned by the funders themselves.  It explains champerty and the associated common law rule of maintenance, saying that a person is guilty of maintenance if he supports litigation in which he has no legitimate concern without just cause or excuse, and that champerty occurs when the person maintaining another seeks a share of the proceeds of the action.  It says that people speak of champerty being an aggravated form of maintenance.  It explains that the case law regarding maintenance and champerty is really anchored in the decision of the House of Lords in a 1994 case.  It observes that champerty and maintenance issues that are specific to the common law are to be contrasted with the approach taken by civil law legal systems, where no such rules exist, but where one relies simply on the more general legal doctrines underlying tortious acts, i.e. fairness and reasonableness. 

https://omnibridgeway.com/insights/blog/blog-posts/blog-details/global/2021/09/15/champerty-pops-up-again!

 

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On 15 September, BCL Solicitors LLP published this article, explaining that the Law Commission had been tasked with considering options to reform the law on when and how companies should be held liable for criminal offences; and that earlier this year it published a discussion paper and invited responses to 13 questions.

https://www.mondaq.com/uk/corporate-crime/1111438/corporate-criminal-liability-a-response-to-the-law-commission39s-discussion-paper-part-one-some-points-of-principlehttps://www.mondaq.com/uk/corporate-crime/1111494/tom-mcneill-on-corporate-criminal-liability-video