The U.S. this week removed sanctions on a former Kazakhstan-based subsidiary of Russia’s Sberbank after the subsidiary changed ownership and asked the Treasury Department to delete the bank from its Specially Designated Nationals List. The subsidiary, now owned by the Kazakhstan government, is "one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan" and "systemically important to the Kazakhstani financial industry," a Treasury spokesperson said March 8, adding that the agency worked "closely" with the Kazakhstan government to help it complete the purchase.
The Netherlands this week announced plans to impose new export controls on advanced semiconductor production equipment, a move the U.S. hopes will align it more closely with American restrictions on exports to China. The new Dutch controls (see 2302160011) will target specific chip technologies “in which the Netherlands has a unique and leading position,” Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said in a letter to the country’s parliament, adding that any additional restrictions should be imposed multilaterally.
Various European countries not in the EU aligned with four recent sanctions decisions taken by the European Council, the EU announced March 8.
The U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added one entry each to its Central African Republic and South Sudan sanctions regimes and amended one entry under its Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions list, in a series of three notices.
The U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added two entries to its Iran (Human Rights) sanctions regime and one name to its Syria restrictions. Seyyed Mohammed Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani and the Headquarters for Enjoining Right and Forbidding Evil were both added to the Iran sanctions regime. Golpayegani is the head of the listed entity. The entry for Morteza Barati was amended. OFSI also designated Amjad Youssef, a military officer, under its Syria sanctions list.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should “significantly” strengthen export controls against Huawei to further restrict the Chinese technology company from buying U.S.-origin items, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a March 6 letter to the agency. Although McCaul applauded its use of the Entity List and the foreign direct product rule to “curtail Huawei’s unconstrained march to dominate 5G telecommunications systems globally,” he said more should be done.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned eight Iranian officials and three Iranian entities for their ties to human rights abuses against women and girls. The designations target senior officials in Iran’s prison system, a top army commander, a high-ranking leader in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and others. Also sanctioned was Iranian security services supplier Naji Pas Co. and CEO Reza Asgharian; security services provider Naji Pars Amin Institute and CEO Bahram Abdollahinejad; and police equipment importer Entebagh Gostar Sepehr Co. and CEO Gholamreza Ramezanian Sani.
Law firm Quinn Emanuel will open an office in Beijing, its second office in mainland China. The new office will bolster the firm's China practice on matters including international arbitration and government agency investigations, among them DOJ, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Quinn Emanuel also helps large companies with "critical internal investigations and government enforcement actions involving their China operations," the firm said. Xiao Liu, Quinn Emanuel's China practice chair, will head the Beijing office.
DOJ will add more than 25 new prosecutors to "investigate and prosecute sanctions evasion, export control violations and similar economic crimes," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said during a March 2 American Bar Association conference. Monaco also said the agency's National Security Division and the Commerce and Treasury departments will begin issuing joint advisories on national security enforcement trends, and DOJ will make a "substantial investment" in the Bank Integrity Unit -- part of the Criminal Divisions' Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section. Monaco's comments came the same day another DOJ official said the agency plans to add a "significant number" of export control prosecutors, including a new chief counsel for corporate enforcement (see 2303030035).
French authorities seized a villa worth over $24 million and allegedly owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch, French newspaper Le Monde reported March 1. The mansion, seized in October, is suspected of belonging to Russian steel magnate Viktor Rashnikov, the report said. While French authorities had already frozen three properties linked to the oligarch since he was sanctioned in March 2022, this property went unnoticed because it was "not declared to the tax authorities as being his property," the report said.