The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Kale Kayihura, the former inspector general of police of the Ugandan Police Force, for leading an entity involved in human rights abuses and corruption, Treasury said in a Sept. 13 press release. Kayihura and members of Uganda’s Flying Squad Unit abused detainees at the Nalufenya Special Investigations Center and after they'd been subjected to the abuse, offered them money if they confessed to crimes, Treasury said. Kayihura also used bribery to improve his political position within the Ugandan government and stole funds intended for government use, the press release said. Kayihura was sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three North Korean state-run hacking groups responsible for supporting the country’s illegal weapons and missile programs, Treasury said in a Sept. 13 press release. The cyber groups -- Lazarus Group, Bluenoroff and Andariel -- work on behalf of North Korea to conduct “cyber espionage, data theft, monetary heists and destructive malware operations,” Treasury said.
The Treasury Department said the founder of a laser technology company headquartered in Massachusetts should not have been included in a 2018 report to Congress that was aimed at informing sanctions decisions, according to a Sept. 11 letter from Treasury. Valentin Gapontsev, founder of IPG Photonics, was listed as a Russian oligarch in a report that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was required to submit to Congress as part of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. The report contained a list of Russian oligarchs and officials that had the potential of facing U.S. sanctions. Gapontsev was born in Moscow, and founded IPG in 1990 in Russia; with a slight name change, IPG Photonics established headquarters in Oxford, Massachusetts, in 1998, according to information found online.
A top Treasury Department official criticized Britain's decision to release an Iranian oil tanker and defended the U.S.’s maximum pressure sanctions campaign against Iran, saying the U.S. will not ease Iran sanctions ahead of a potential meeting between the two countries. Gibraltar's decision to release the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1, was an “expensive mistake,” said Marshall Billingslea, Treasury’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing. Gibraltar seized the ship in July after suspecting it of transporting oil to Syria, but later released the tanker after Iran promised it would not ship oil to Syria, which would violate international sanctions. Despite the promises, the ship delivered oil to Syria (see 1909110042).
China criticized a bill passed by the U.S. Senate that urges the Trump administration to sanction Chinese officials responsible for the oppression of the country’s Uyghur population.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to control benzylfentanyl and 4-anilinopiperidine and their amides, carbamates and salts as list I chemicals under the Controlled Substances Act. The two chemicals are used in the manufacture of fentanyl, DEA said. DEA is not proposing a threshold for domestic and international transactions for these chemicals, so “all transactions of chemical mixtures containing benzylfentanyl or 4-anilinopiperidine will be regulated at any concentration and will be subject to control under the CSA,” the agency said. Comments are due Nov. 12.
The Congressional Research Service released a report Sept. 11 on U.S. sanctions on Iran, detailing how sanctions are used within the Trump administration, the impact of the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and more. The 110-page report includes information on how sanctions are triggered; what type of trade between the two countries is allowed; detailed descriptions of U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil, energy and military sectors; an overview of European sanctions on Iran; and possible future sanctions.
A U.S. website infrastructure company said it may have violated U.S. sanctions and export reporting requirements, according to its regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cloudflare, based in California, told the SEC it voluntarily disclosed possible export and sanctions violations to the Bureau of Industry and Security and the Office of Foreign Assets Control this year. The violations included submitting “incorrect information” about hardware exports to Commerce and receiving payments from people and entities on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List.
An interim final rule involving International Traffic in Arms Regulations definitions for activities that aren’t classified as exports, re-exports or transfers is under review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the OIRA said in a Sept. 10 notice. The rule aims to amend the ITAR to create definitions for several activities, including launching items into space, “providing technical data” to U.S. people either in the U.S. or in a “single country abroad,” and moving defense goods between U.S. states, according to the OIRA. The definitions would also remove requirements related to the “electronic transmission and storage of unclassified technical data via foreign communications infrastructure when the data is secured sufficiently to prevent access by foreign persons,” the OIRA said.
Phil Hogan, the next EU trade commissioner (see 1909100058), should examine potential regulatory changes "to allow us to use sanctions when others adopt illegal measures and simultaneously block the WTO dispute settlement process," Ursula von der Leyen, president-elect of the European Commission, said in a "mission letter." The U.S. has blocked new appointments to the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement appellate body in recent years, which has hindered the process. Hogan should also look at ways for the EU to better "protect itself from unfair trade practices" and "look at how we can strengthen our trade toolbox," she said in the letter. In addition to working with the U.S., China an Africa on improved trade relationships, Hogan "will lead the work on concluding ongoing negotiations, notably with Australia and New Zealand."