Month: March 2022

On 31 March, Field Fisher issued a briefing saying that new UK data transfer tools – the International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) – essentially the UK’s equivalent to the EU standard contractual clauses (SCC) – and a separate UK addendum to be used in conjunction with the EU SCC (UK Addendum) – came into force on 21 March.

https://www.fieldfisher.com/en/services/privacy-security-and-information/privacy-security-and-information-law-blog/new-uk-data-transfer-tools-laid-before-parliament

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The International Chamber of Commerce has released this report which comprises 28 original articles authored by 46 contributors from some 22 jurisdictions.  Its contents include the following articles –

• consider the interaction between criminal and civil process in cases involving fraud;
• evaluating different Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWO) and explaining their effectiveness;
• pursuing claims against organized crime group representatives in Japan;
• beneficial ownership in Senegal;
• the extraterritorial application of asset forfeiture proceedings in South Africa;
• development and use of Norwich Pharmacal Orders in Ireland re ransomware;
• enforcement of foreign judgments in Lebanon;
• tools of the trade available to the asset recovery lawyer in Guernsey;
• recent developments in Cayman Islands law with particular relevance to the conduct of major cross border litigation and asset recovery;
• can the BVI survive in a world of international minimum level tax treaties and data hacks and leaks?;
• beneficial ownership registers offshore: an update;
• applying traditional asset recovery techniques in the new world of virtual assets and cryptocurrency;
• law enforcement, criminal cartels and the legitimisation of cryptocurrency;
• crypto: how various tools have developed relevant to investigations;
• cases of cryptocurrency fraud raise knotty issues of jurisdiction not only because of the decentralised nature of cryptocurrency – jurisdictional challenges and novel solutions;
• US: using receiverships to investigate and combat fraud;
• recognition of foreign insolvencies in Panama;
• wine fraud in Spain: has over-regulation of the industry led to self-sabotage?;
• insights on forgery in English Law;
• searching for the debtors’ bank accounts across the EU; and
• the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and NatWest Bank.

https://www.iccfraudnet.org/reports/ICC_FraudNet_Global_Annual_Report_2022.pdf

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A report from the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee of the Australian Senate examined the country’s AML/CFT regime and made a number of recommendations for improvement.

https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/024754/toc_pdf/TheadequacyandefficacyofAustralia%E2%80%99santi-moneylaunderingandcounter-terrorismfinancing(AMLCTF)regime.pdf

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An article from Out-Law on 31 March explained that the Zondo Commission is a judge-led inquiry into alleged ‘state capture’ in South Africa; and findings of the Commission are likely to have a profound impact on the activities of public authorities in the country and on private companies and individuals that operate in South Africa and abroad.

https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/guides/introduction-the-zondo-commission-south-africa

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On 30 March, Jurist reported that the letter has been used in recent weeks to symbolise support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Displayed on Russian military tanks, it has been used as a means to show support to the Russian regime.  Lithuania is expected to follow the ban of the “Z” symbol.

https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/03/germany-to-criminally-prosecute-individuals-who-display-pro-russia-war-symbol-z/

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Dryad Global has released its latest annual report which looks at the situation in various parts of the world.  Articles include the “shadow war” between Israel and Iran, including waterborne IED (WIED).  Another article notes the precipitous decline in piracy throughout West Africa in 2021 saw overall incidents of piracy and maritime crime decline by 56% compared to 2020.  A further article comments on the situation in Libya.

https://landing.dryadglobal.com/download-dryad-globals-maritime-security-annual-report-2022

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The FIAU in Malta has produced this report saying that, during the last quarter of 2021, the FIAU carried out a thematic review to assess the level of compliance with beneficial ownership obligations by the Company Service Providers (CSP) sector.  It is said that results indicated that most CSP are compliant with their beneficial ownership related obligations, and non-compliance was limited to exceptional cases.

https://fiaumalta.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/1640_FIAU_Publication_Supervision_5-FINAL.pdf

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On 28 March, an article from ACFCS reported that a $140 million penalty levied by FinCEN and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for AML failings at USAA has a host of lessons for the compliance community, essentially being a roadmap to evade systems, technology and human training pitfalls.  It says that abank must never forget about the vital importance of training for analysts, case-crafters and decision-makers – training that goes beyond technical policies and teaches how to think and act like an experienced, effective investigator.

https://www.acfcs.org/acfcs-exclusive-contributor-report-lack-of-system-tuning-human-training-leads-to-cascade-of-low-grades-unsustainable-system-alert-backlogs-missed-deadlines-in-140-million-usaa-aml-penalty/

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This report says that the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) provides the American public with a direct outlet to report cyber crimes to the FBI.  In 2021, IC3 continued to receive a record number of complaints from the American public: 847,376 reported complaints, which was a 7% increase from 2020, with potential losses exceeding $6.9 billion. Among the 2021 complaints received, ransomware, BEC schemes, and the criminal use of cryptocurrency are among the top incidents reported.  In 2021, BEC schemes resulted in 19,954 complaints with an adjusted loss of nearly $2.4 billion. 

https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2021_IC3Report.pdf

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On 30 March, the NGO TRAFFIC reported that traffickers are exploiting the growth of the aviation sector to move illegal wildlife products across India and its international borders.  Organisations have joined forces to develop a suite of tools to arm enforcement officials with the knowledge and skills to combat this crime that fuels declines in many Indian and international species.  It reported the trafficking of over 70,000 native and exotic wild animals, including their body parts or derivatives (weighing around 4,000 kg) in 140 wildlife seizure incidents at 18 Indian airports between 2011-2020.  46% of seizures were reptiles. 

https://www.traffic.org/news/first-of-its-kind-project-launches-new-tools-to-combat-wildlife-trafficking-in-indias-airports/