The Treasury released its 2020 National Illicit Finance Strategy on Feb. 6, detailing a “roadmap to modernize” its regimes for anti-money laundering regimes countering terrorism financing, the agency said. In the report, Treasury said money launderers and terrorist financers often try to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls on dual-use items, frequently trying to procure controlled U.S.-origin goods and technology.
The United Kingdom’s Export Control Joint Unit amended its inspection process for the use of open licenses and electronic standard individual export licenses, the ECJU said in a Feb. 6 notice. As part of the change, companies will be informed of the ”exact date” that their records will be inspected, the ECJU said, adding that it will no longer offer “alternative dates.” The U.K. said it will still give companies between four and six weeks' notice before the inspection date.
The State Department sanctioned Bulgarian Specialized Criminal Court Judge Andon Mitalov for corruption, the agency said Feb. 5. The State Department also designated Mitalov’s wife and daughter: Kornelia Stoykova-Mitalova and Gergana Mitalova, respectively.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued regulations to implement its Mali sanctions regime, OFAC said in Feb. 6 notices on its website and in the Federal Register. The regulations, which take effect Feb. 7, will be supplemented with a “more comprehensive set of regulations,” which may include more guidance, general licenses and licensing policy information, OFAC said. The regulations stem from a July executive order that gave the Treasury and State departments authority to block property belonging to people involved in terrorist activities in Mali (see 1907290014).
A Chinese national and former Raytheon engineer was charged with violating the International Traffic in Arms Regulations after he took a company laptop with sensitive military technology data to China, according to an indictment filed Jan. 29. Wei Sun, who worked as an electrical engineer for Raytheon Missile Systems from 2009 to 2019, had access to “advanced and sensitive defense-related technology” on his laptop, the indictment said, and his trip overseas constituted an illegal export of ITAR-controlled defense articles. Sun’s computer contained controlled data covered under Categories 4 (launch vehicles, guided missiles, ballistic missiles, rockets, torpedoes, bombs and mines) and 11 (military electronics) of the ITAR, including a “Field Programmable Gate Array,” according to an unsealed complaint.
The United Nations Security Council Committee added one entry to its ISIL (Da’esh) and Al‑Qaida Sanctions List, according to a Feb. 4 notice. The UN added Mali resident Amadou Koufa, founder of the West African terrorist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued a Feb. 5 notice reflecting the change. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated JNIM in 2018 and has sanctioned officials working for the group (see 1907160030).
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation released its quarterly report to Parliament on Feb. 4. The report contains actions related to the U.K.’s terrorist asset-freezing sanctions made between July 1 and Sept. 30, including additions, removals and licensing statistics.
The European Commission released a Feb. 4 statement on U.S. sanctions and measures against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline (see 1912230054), saying the European Union does not recognize the “extraterritorial application of U.S. sanctions.” The European Union “regularly” discusses sanctions issues with the U.S. government and Congress, Commission Vice President Josep Borrell said, but U.S. extraterritorial sanctions are “contrary to international law.” Borrell added that “EU policies and practices should not be determined by the threat or imposition of third country sanctions” and “the EU opposes the imposition of sanctions against EU companies conducting legitimate business in accordance with EU law.” Borrell said the EC’s position on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is “well known,” and any companies that build the pipeline “should know that they will need to be operated in line with EU law.”
Trump administration officials will meet this month in an attempt to resolve differences in the matter of restricting technology exports to China and Huawei, according to a Feb. 4 Reuters report. But Commerce is also discussing expanding its export control jurisdiction to a broader array of foreign sales containing U.S. goods that go beyond exports to just Huawei, according to a person familiar with the situation. “That is the one that would be a nuclear bomb for business,” the person said, adding that Commerce is discussing expanding its export control jurisdiction to “the maximum possible point.”
Iran's Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade issued 1,000 cryptocurrency mining permits to increase the use of digital currency within Iran’s economy, according to an unofficial translation of a February report from Ibena, an Iranian news agency. The move was intended to allow Iran to “import goods and circumvent the problems of bank sanctions for payments,” a member of Iran’s Blockchain Commission of the Computer Trade Union Organization told Ibena. The report said the move, which is aimed at avoiding U.S. sanctions, could “boost the industry and its revenues.”