The European Council announced in three separate notices April 28 that a group of non-EU European countries aligned with the union's recent sanctions moves on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine; on Iran; and on Myanmar.
A Texas U.S. district court found that Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp. committed visa fraud to get employees in the U.S. Making the determination during a hearing on whether to revoke ZTE's probation for violating sanctions on Iran, Judge Ed Kinkeade of the Northern District of Texas said that the court decided not to revoke it and to resentence ZTE after looking at the evidence (United States v. ZTE Corporation, N.D. Tex. #3:17-00120).
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added one entry to its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime and amended and corrected entires under the Iran (Nuclear) sanctions list in a pair of notices March 8. Under the ISIL sanctions list, OFSI added Khatiba Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, a terrorist organization operating under the Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, which operates mainly in Syria. Under the Iran sanctions regime, OFSI amended the entries for Mohammad Hejazi and the Passive Defence Organisation, and it corrected the entries for Jelvesazan and the Centre for Innovation and Technology Cooperation.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended 48 entries on its Iran (Human Rights) sanctions regime and 20 entries on its restrictive measures list for Venezuela in two separate financial sanctions notices. OFSI also delisted four entries from the Iran sanctions list: Ahmad Zargar, former head of the "Organization for the Preservation of Morality"; Hassan Haddad, former deputy safety officer of Tehran Revolutionary Court; Mohammad Hejazi, former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Sarollah Corps in Tehran; and Seyyed Hasan Firuzabadi, former military adviser to the supreme leader.
The European Court of Justice dismissed an appeal on Nov. 18 by Fereydoun Mahmoudian that sought to increase the amount of compensation awarded to Mahmoudian from the General Court's decision to give him over $80,000 due to his inclusion on the European Union's Iran sanctions list. Unsatisfied with this amount, Mahmoudian sought over $1 million in material damages and $564,000 for non-pecuniary damages from the ECJ or to remand the case to the General Court. The appealed damage payments awarded by the lower court also included payments of over $560 for every month his assets were frozen. The ECJ ruled that the General Court was right to find that Mahmoudian gave insufficient evidence to establish the reality and extent of the alleged damages, and that the General Court's numbers were properly supported. The ECJ also ordered Mahmoudian to bear his own costs and pay those incurred by the European Council, but the European Commission was required to pay its own costs.
The European Court of Justice ruled that the freezing of funds and economic resources prevents the implementation of measures that establish a right to be paid on a priority basis in favor of a certain creditor in relation to others, because those measures alter the destination of the frozen funds, potentially allowing their use. The decision came in response to a preliminary ruling from the French Court of Cassation on questions arising from the case Bank Sepah v. Overseas Financial Ltd. and Oaktree Finance Ltd. The case dealt with creditors' ability to enforce action against assets frozen under the EU's Iran sanctions regime, the EU Sanctions blog reported Nov. 15. The French court asked the ECJ whether EU sanctions prevent a "non-earmarking" judicial lien from being imposed over frozen assets without a license and whether it is relevant that the debt is unrelated to the Iranian ballistic missile program and came about before the bank's United Nations sanctions designation. On the latter question, the ECJ said that "the fact that the grounds for the claim for recovery from the person whose funds are frozen are unrelated to the Iranian ballistic missile programme is not relevant to that question," EU Sanctions said.
A former professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has been charged in Norway with violating sanctions on Iran, export control regulations and the country's data breach laws, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp. reported, according to an unofficial translation. The professor allegedly invited four guest researchers from Iran, giving them laboratory access at the university in 2018-19. The four also were given access to defense information without obtaining the necessary license from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the report said. Norway alleges the visitors could have gained knowledge beneficial to Iran's nuclear program.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined two Texas companies -- both subsidiaries of Netherlands-based oilfield services company Schlumberger Ltd. -- for violating U.S. sanctions against Russia and Sudan, OFAC said Sept. 27. The agency fined oil and gas service provider Cameron International Corp. more than $1.4 million for illegally providing services for a Russian Arctic offshore oil project and fined gas product provider Schlumberger Rod Lift, Inc. $160,000 for helping to illegally facilitate shipments to Sudan. OFAC said neither company voluntarily self-disclosed its violations.
Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Fla., introduced a bill that would prohibit U.S. funding for the Taliban government and require sanctions on foreigners who knowingly provide assistance to Afghanistan's government. Franklin said Sept. 23 that his bill is a companion to the bill introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., (see 2109210010). He has five Republican co-sponsors. Franklin said the bill also would repeal the exception in Iran sanctions for sectors necessary for Afghan reconstruction. "While we feel this should be an issue on which all sides can agree, sadly our Democrat colleagues have not chosen to join this effort,” Franklin said.
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