On 30 March, OFAC announced that it had sanctioned 1 individual for attempting to facilitate arms deals between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Slovakian national Ashot Mkrtychev was designated for having attempted to, directly or indirectly, import, export, or reexport to, into, or from the DPRK arms or related materiel.
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20230330
On 23 March, KPMG reported that the EU’s advisory VAT Committee had published Working Paper 1060 regarding an EC question on non-fungible tokens (NFT). It explains that the Committee was set up to promote the uniform application of the provisions of the EU VAT Directive. The Working Paper is the first EU-wide policy document on this subject and lays out the EC’s initial reflections on the VAT treatment that should be applied to NFT.
https://kpmg.com/us/en/home/insights/2023/03/tnf-eu-vat-committee-working-paper-treatment-nfts.html
On 28 March, HETQ in Armenia claimed that, since 2017, nearly 100 Armenians have helped a network of companies used by East European oligarchs to move millions of dollars, move assets from closed banks abroad, and pay for lobby services in the US.
On 30 March, the Home Office announced that the Government, law enforcement and private sector had agreed on a new plan to crack down on money laundering, kleptocracy and sanctions evasion. The Economic Crime Plan 2 is said to build on the foundations of its predecessor with new actions to improve the system-wide response to economic crime through enhanced cooperation between government, law enforcement, supervisory agencies and the private sector. The Plan provides for 475 new highly-trained financial crime investigators, spread across intelligence, enforcement and asset recovery at key agencies. This increased capacity will be targeted toward the detection and disruption of money laundering, and the recovery of an additional £1 billion in criminal assets over the next 10 years. The 3-year plan focuses on achieving tangible outcomes, and commits to –
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-plan-puts-uk-at-the-forefront-of-fight-against-economic-crime
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/economic-crime
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-plan-2023-to-2026
A new company has been selected to run (initially for a 3-month probationary period) the troubled landfill site. In the light of recent events, one of the commitments included in this new concession is that the company has a plan for the mitigation and prevention of fires.
A report today says that 92.1% of cigarettes smoked in Panama come from illicit trade. this is according to the results of the latest Illegal Cigarette Market Study conducted in Panama in 2022 by Nielsen. This is said to represent a potential $300 million loss to the Government, more than 15 40-feet containers of illegal cigarettes being consumed in Panama each month. in some regions, the proportion of illicit cigarettes was over 96%. That all said, in my personal experience, the percentage of smokers in Panama apears less than in Britain and the rest of Europe.
While I have not got all the latest Covid-19 statistics to hand, we are told that, in the week ending 19 March, there were no deaths due to Covid, but that the number of new cases and active cases have shown another increase (new cases at 842, up from 702 the week before; and active cases up by around 200). Hopefully, the effect of the Carnivale holiday period will now start to decline.
29 MARCH 2023
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y
On 29 March, the Financial Times published this report, subtitled “Triads, Ghost Ships and Underground Banks”. It follows the voyage of a tanker to North Korea. Making one of at least 23 trips there, or to its EEZ, since 2019. This report follows a joint investigation with RUSI, and shows how business leaders in Asia linked to organised crime have helped facilitate the delivery of oil to North Korea; naming the former business partner of one of Asia’s gambling tycoons, and a Macao-based businessman.
On 28 March, the Law Society issued updated guidance, saying that new legislation is bringing into force changes to solicitors’ AML obligations on assessing proliferation financing risk and reporting register discrepancies.
Looks like I was lucky with my US visa – not only did I get my appointment and visa in only a few weeks, having applied in February (and not the average 270 weeks that has been quoted!), but the fee for a visa is to go up in May, from $160 to $185. Collected the passport with the new visa in today and, if I was still doing immigration work then the photo on the visa would be enough to have me banned from entry (why are passport and visa photos so awful?).
A new survey says that men here say they want to earn at least $1,058 a month, while women’s say that they require $1,019 on average. It also says that technology and systems positions are those with the highest salary expectation, with mechanical engineering having the average salary required by applicants being $1,146.
28 MARCH 2023
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y
C4ADS has published this report which says that behind the 4 million commercial fishing vessels in the global fleet lies a complex onshore network of shell companies, frequently concealing the true beneficiaries of this industry. It says that recent policy actions have shifted toward holding accountable ultimate beneficial owners (UBO), instead of, or in addition to, individual vessels for IUU fishing: the individuals who are responsible for and receive the greatest financial benefit from fishing operations. The report explores how ultimate beneficial ownership information in the fishing industry is an important tool to address IUU fishing, improve transparency, and build accountability. It conducted the first full mapping of UBO for vessels flagged to Spain and Ecuador and map the trawler and purse seine fleets of the UK and Indonesia, respectively. This analysis reveals barriers to investigating UBO and identifies opportunities to standardise and improve reporting requirements. As an example, it provides snapshots, including one for the UK.
https://c4ads.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/SeaShellsBrief.pdf
On 28 March, Krebs on security reported that the NCA has been busy setting up phony DDoS-for-hire websites that seek to collect information on users, remind them that launching DDoS attacks is illegal, and generally increase the level of paranoia for people looking to hire such services. The websites, which have so far been accessed by several thousand people, have been created to look like they offer the tools and services that enable cyber criminals to execute these attacks. Instead, users based in the UK will be contacted by the NCA or police and warned about engaging in cybercrime, and information relating to those based overseas is being passed to international law enforcement.
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/03/uk-sets-up-fake-booter-sites-to-muddy-ddos-market/
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