Anti-Money Laundering Newsletter - January 2021 | Sanctions and judgments

The European Union Council extends sanctions against Venezuela until November 14, 2021

The European Union Council has extended for one year (until November 14, 2021), the EU’s sanctions regime against Venezuela.

The decision was taken in the light of the current political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. These measures are aimed at helping to promote shared democratic solutions to bring political stability to the country and allow it to meet the population’s pressing needs.

The measures include an embargo on weapons and equipment for internal repression, as well as a prohibition of travel and freezing of assets of 36 persons included on the list of officeholders that are responsible for human rights violations and/or for undermining democracy and the rule of law.

More information, here.

The EU renews its sanctions regime against ISIL/Daesh and Al-Qaida until October 31, 2021

The European Union Council has renewed for one year, until October 31, 2021, the EU’s sanctions regime against ISIL/Daesh and Al-Qaida and the related list of persons subject to restrictive measures which include the prohibition to travel to the EU and the freezing of assets for a series of individuals, groups and entities. Furthermore, EU persons and entities are forbidden to make funds and economic resources available to those listed. The decision was taken in the light of the current terrorist threat. The EU regime is independent, but complements, the regime which allows the adoption of sanctions at UN level, the EU having managed to independently adopt restrictive measures against ISIL/Daesh and Al-Qaeda, and persons, groups, companies and entities associated with them, since September 2016.

More information, here.

Seven new Syrian ministers added to the EU sanctions list

The European Union Council imposed, on October 16 last, restrictive measures on the ministers recently appointed in Syria, raising the number of persons subject to sanctions since 2011 in response to the violent repression of the Syrian civilian population. The sanctions imposed by the EU in 2011, which are currently in force, cover different persons and entities, such sanctions being the imposition of travel prohibition and asset freezing measures. It is also aimed at companies and prominent businesspersons that benefit from their links with the regime and the war economy. They also include the prohibition of the importation of petroleum, restrictions on certain investments, freezing of assets of the Syrian central bank which are kept in the EU, restrictions on the exportation of equipment and technology which could be used for internal repression and of equipment and technology for monitoring or intercepting telephonic or in Internet communications.

More information, here.

EU chemical weapons sanctions regime is renewed for one year

The EU Council decided, on October 12 last, to renew for one year the sanctions regime for chemical weapons introduced in 2018. Such regime allows the EU to impose restrictive measures on persons and entities involved in the development and use of chemical weapons. The objective is to counteract the proliferation and use of chemical weapons and support their global prohibition, established by the Chemical Weapons Convention, due to the serious threat to international security which they pose, as well as the increase of chemical attacks throughout the world.

Restrictive measures are currently applied to nine persons (five linked to the Syrian regime and four involved in the Salisbury attack using the Novichok toxic nerve agent), and an organization (the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), as the Syrian regime’s principal entity for development of chemical weapons).

The restrictive measures consist of the prohibition of travel to the EU and the freezing of assets for the persons and the entities. EU persons and entities are also forbidden to make funds available to those subject to the sanctions.

More information, here.

New European regulation on crowdfunding service providers for business

October 7 saw the enactment of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of October 7, 2020, on European crowdfunding service providers for business, and Directive (EU) 2020/1504 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of October 7, amending Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments. By means of those legislative instruments, a series of amendments are introduced for crowdfunding platforms. In relation to Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing subject matter, (AML/TF), the preamble of such legislation places special emphasis on the need for the various supervising authorities to ensure the integrity of the financial system, by establishing the need to include such entities as obliged entities in relation to AML/TF; this new development was already reflected in the Preliminary Draft of the law amending the current Law 10/2010, of April 28 on prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The EU adds Anguilla and Barbados to the list of non-cooperative countries and territories for tax purposes and eliminates the Cayman Islands and Oman

As a strategy of the EU to contribute to the efforts aimed at promoting an optimum tax governance worldwide, the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, which lists the non-EU jurisdictions which fail to comply with a collection of criteria established by the Council in 2016, was established in December 2017 and remains in force at present. Such criteria are related to tax transparency, fair taxation and the application of international rules against base erosion and profit shifting. The most recent review of this list was in February 2020. From 2020 onwards, it will be updated twice yearly.

Thus, on October 6, 2020 the European Union Council decided to:

• Add Anguilla and Barbados on the EU list of non-cooperative countries and territories for tax purposes. 
• Eliminate the Cayman Islands and Oman from the list, having approved the necessary reforms to improve their tax policy framework.
• Eliminate Mongolia, Bosnia and Herzegovina from Annex II of the list (situation of pending commitments), after those countries deposited the instruments of ratification of the OECD Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, as amended.

Following this update, twelve jurisdictions remain on the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions: American Samoa, Anguilla, Barbados, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.

More information, here.

The Public Treasury publishes the updated quarterly list of risk jurisdictions in relation to money laundering and terrorist financing included in the FATF and EU lists

The Spanish Public Treasury published on November 5 last the updated list of risk jurisdictions in relation to money laundering and terrorist financing included in the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) and EU lists. By that notification, the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Infringements reports on the evolution of those jurisdictions which, in accordance with the FATF declaration of October 2020, are not carrying out the necessary measures to protect the integrity of their financial systems within the international framework for the prevention of money laundering and of terrorist financing, and regarding the latest restrictive measures imposed by the European Union on financial and commercial transactions with certain countries.

More information, here.

Libya: new sanctions for violations of the UN weapons embargo

The European Union Council imposed on October 15 last, a series of specific restrictive measures on a person who participates in acts which pose a threat to the peace, security or stability of Libya and that offers them support, including by violations of the UN arms embargo. The sanctions imposed on this person include the prohibition of travel and asset freezing. EU persons and entities are also forbidden to make funds available to that person. The EU sanctions complement and reinforce the penalties adopted by the UN, which include the arms embargo.

More information, here.

Use of chemical weapons in the attempted assassination of Alexei Navalny: the EU imposes sanctions on six persons and one entity

On October 15, the European Union Council imposed a series of restrictive measures against six persons and one entity, involved in the attempted assassination Alexei Navalny (a Russian lawyer and politician, considered Vladimir Putin’s principal opponent), who was poisoned by a toxic nerve agent of the "Novichok" group, on August 20, 2020 in Russia. The restrictive measures adopted, consist of the prohibition of travel to the EU and asset freezing for the persons and for the entity. EU persons and entities are also forbidden to make funds available to those subject to the sanctions.

The six persons and one entity related to the Navalny case were named as part of the restrictive measures against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons.

More information, here.

The Spanish Supreme Court rejects the appeal filed by the General Council of Notaries against the Beneficial Ownership Registry

The Supreme Court refused to admit, in an order of last July, the cassation appeal filed by the General Council of Notaries (CGN) against Ministerial Order JUS/319/2018, of March 21, approving the new forms for the filling in the Commercial Registry of the financial statements of Entities Obliged to publish them. That order establishes the obligation, of both natura and legal persons, to provide –at the time of filing of their respective financial statements in the Commercial Registry- the relevant data regarding the beneficial ownership of such companies and trusts, except for persons that engage in any of the activities envisaged in section o) of Article 2.1 of the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.

The CGN filed an appeal requesting a declaration of nullity of the aforementioned obligation to send to the Commercial Registry the data of the beneficial owners, as a measure for the prevention of money laundering, this appeal being rejected by the ‘Audiencia Nacional’, on the grounds that the CGN does not have standing to appeal the Ministerial Order. For this reason, the Spanish Supreme Court, in its minutes of July 22, 2020, refused to admit the cassation appeal filed by the notaries due to lack of sufficient substantiation.

On the other hand, on October 1, 2020, the High Court of Justice of the Madrid region, concluded in its judgement of that same date, the measure of certified destruction of any data and documents that notary’s offices have received, by digitalization of the documents identifying the parties in commercial transactions, for the purpose of being included in the base of sole owners parallel to that managed by the Commercial Registry as part of the fight against money laundering.

At present, the preliminary draft to transpose the fifth European Directive on PML/TF, provides for the complementary nature of both databases, although –in accordance with the view of the Ministry of Justice itself- it upholds the official nature of the database managed by the Commercial Registry itself.