The EU General Court annulled the sanctions listing of former Ukrainian President Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych and his son, Oleksandr Viktorovych Yanukovych, in a pair of March 30 orders. The two were listed in 2014 under the Ukraine sanctions regime in connection with the embezzlement of state funds. The listings were annulled because the EU Council failed to satisfy the Yanukovychs' right to defense and relied on criminal proceedings conducted by Ukrainian authorities that failed to respect effective judicial protection. The two remain subject to an asset freeze, with their sanctions listings renewed until Sept. 6.

Baker McKenzie's Ukraine wing has resumed operations after suspending all work due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the firm announced in a LinkedIn post (see 2203150058). While the Kyiv offices remain unavailable for client visits, Baker McKenzie's lawyers and staff will provide services to clients from other locations around Ukraine and other Baker McKenzie offices in Europe, the notice said. The firm did not clarify where in Ukraine the firm would continue operating. Baker McKenzie's Kyiv lawyers will be available via email or telephone and the firm's virtual reception will be open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Kyiv time on business days. "We are confident that the Kyiv office will return to its regular operation soon! Glory to Ukraine!" the notice said.

Syrian and Lebanese businessman Abdelkader Sabra saw his sanctions status annulled after successfully petitioning the case to the EU General Court. Sabra was listed under the EU's Syria sanctions regime as a prominent businessman in the country. The court said in a March 16 opinion that while Sabra had some business ties to Syria, the European Council hadn't showed he was linked to the Syrian regime, nor was there evidence he supported or benefited from it. As a result, the sanctions listing was annulled.

Singapore arrested a Malaysian national and seized over 1,000 cartons of cigarettes for which duties had not been paid, Singapore Customs announced March 15. The man was arrested during a March 12 operation during which Singapore Customs officers saw a Malaysia-registered vehicle and a Singapore-registered truck parked on the side of the road. The officers checked the vehicles and found 1,020 cartons of cigarettes, arresting the Malaysian man. The total duty and Goods and Services tax allegedly evaded totaled $87,100 and $6,930, respectively (in Singapore dollars), and court proceedings are ongoing, Singapore Customs said.

The U.K. must pay billions of euros in tariffs it failed to collect on knock-off Chinese clothes and shoes imports, the European Court of Justice said in a March 8 decision. The ECJ found that from 2011 to 2017, the U.K. failed to live up to its obligations under EU law to enter the correct amounts of customs duties and to make available the correct amount of "traditional own resources" and own resources accruing from value-added tax for the fraudulent textiles and footwear imports from China. The ECJ identified hundreds of millions of euros' worth of these lost duties every year that the U.K. must pay.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation fined London-based financial institution Clear Junction more than $49,000 for violating the country's sanctions on those violating the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine. From March to June 2018, Clear Junction conducted 15 transactions with accounts held at the EU-designated Russian National Commercial Bank. Clear Junction then made funds available to an individual designated under the Ukraine sanctions regime, OFSI said. Clear Junction made a voluntary disclosure, dropping the penalty by 26.7%. The financial services firm detailed eight of the transactions, but further investigation revealed nondisclosed payments from Clear Junction. TransferGo initiated the transactions, giving a Russian Bank Identification Code to Clear Junction to enable the transactions, OFSI said. TransferGo was fined in August for its role in the scheme.

The French Court of Cassation requested the European Court of Justice to interpret an element of the EU's sanctions on Iraq. The request comes in a case brought by Dutch air pollution control equipment company Instrubel NV in which a French court found that "preventative attachments" against Montana Management -- a trust fund formerly owned by Saddam Hussein -- were void because Montana hadn't been served. Montana was placed under the EU's Iraq sanctions regime in 2006, an EU Sanctions blog post said. Instead of serving Montana, the Iraqi government was served in the case. The Iraqi government in 2011 took control over the mandate of the Development Fund of Iraq, which the U.N. set up in 2003 to distribute assets seized from the Iraqi regime.

Singapore Customs arrested two Singaporean nationals Jan. 23 following a raid that discovered a total of 500 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes, the customs agency said. Customs officers conducted the operation in an industrial building around Eunos Avenue 3 after keeping watch on a unit in the building "that was suspected to be used for storing duty-unpaid cigarettes." The total amount of Goods and Services tax evaded by the two men totaled $68,320 and $5,100 (in Singapore dollars), respectively. The pair were charged in court on Jan. 25, Singapore Customs said.

Europe's top court, the European Court of Justice, annulled an EU General Court ruling which struck down the European Commission's antidumping duties on imports of certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron (other than cast iron) or steel (other than stainless steel) from China. The Jan. 20 decision from the ECJ said that the General Court was wrong to hold that the commission was required to consider the effects of the dumped imports of every product type at issue sold by the industry for that product. The ECJ further ruled that the General Court erred when it required the commission to examine the extent to which the prices of the 17 product types may have contributed to the fall in the prices of the sampled EU producers. The decision sends the case back to the General Court, where litigation will resume over the fate of the antidumping duties.

Vietnam's Quang Nam Customs Department will prosecute importer H.T.P Import & Export Co. for smuggling 88 tons of refined sugar into the Thang Binh district, the state-run CustomsNews said Jan. 15. A shipment of 200 tons of refined Thai sugar was detected in July in eight containers brought in by H.T.P and registered at Dien Nam-Dien Ngoc Industrial Park Customs Branch, the report said. Following an investigation, the H.T.P director said the company didn't sell 88 of the 200 tons of imported sugar and had borrowed the shipment of 200 tons of sugar to pay debts it owed to the P.H.H Trading Co., CustomsNews said. However, the investigating customs unit found that the amount at which the 88 tons were sold was below its value and thus amounted to smuggling. As a result, the Quang Nam Customs Department director transferred the case to the Quang Nam Provincial Police Investigation Agency for criminal prosecution.