On 31 August 2021, the European Commission closed the initial feedback period for this impact assessment and, as a next step, has now launched a public consultation process seeking further feedback on the Blocking Statute. Read more

On 9 August 2021, the UK, US and Canadian governments announced the imposition of additional sanctions on Belarus. These new measures follow the coordinated imposition of sanctions against Belarus by the EU, UK, Canada and the US in June 2021. Read more

The European Commission has recently published a new roadmap / inception impact assessment relating to the review of the current Blocking Statute (Regulation 2271/96). Read more

On July 23, 2021, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury entered a settlement agreement with an online payment-services company business based in New York, Payoneer Inc. (Payoneer). Read more

On 5 August 2021, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation ("OFSI") announced the imposition of a monetary penalty of £50,000 on TransferGo Limited ("TransferGo") in respect of a breach of the financial sanctions imposed in respect of the situation in Ukraine. This is the fifth time OFSI has used its power to impose civil penalties for breach of financial sanctions (granted under the Policing and Crime Act 2017 (the "PCA")). Read more

On 21 June 2021 the governments of the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada and the United States made a joint statement announcing co-ordinated new sanctions on Belarus. The new sanctions were imposed in response to the forced diversion of a Ryanair flight to Minsk, Belarus on 23 May 2021 and the subsequent arrest of opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich, and his companion Sofia Sapega, and to ongoing concerns about the Belarusian regime’s attacks on human rights and the suppression of democracy under its president Alexander Lukashenko. Read more

On 8 June 2021, the European Commission published an opinion on Article 2(2) of Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 of 17 March 2014 (the "Regulation"). The Regulation imposes an asset freeze on certain Russian individuals and entities in response to the situation in Ukraine. Read more

Welcome to the May 2021 edition of our corporate crime update – our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. Our update now covers a number of jurisdictions. Read more