EU Advocate General Laila Medina last week said that the "authentication by a notary of a contract of sale of immovable property owned by a legal person established in Russia" isn't covered by the EU's sanctions provisions on Russia, "as long as the engagement in transactions is allowed for that person under that regulation and the authentication is not supplemented by legal advice."
China announced that it is "firmly opposed" to both the U.S. decision to open a new Section 301 investigation on allegedly unfair practices in China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors (see 2404170029) and President Joe Biden's call for a "tripling" of the existing Section 301 tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum (see 2404170040).
The EU on April 16 requested consultations with the U.K. under the EU-U.K. Trade and Cooperation Agreement's dispute settlement system pertaining to the U.K.'s ban on the fishing of sandeel, the European Commission announced.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent EU sanctions move under its restrictions regime to combat human rights abuses. Earlier this month, the Council of the EU introduced a humanitarian exemption to its sanctions regime. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision, the council announced.
China and El Salvador launched free trade agreement negotiations on April 17, China's Ministry of Commerce announced, according to an unofficial translation. El Salvador's minister of economy and China's international trade negotiator and vice minister made the virtual announcement.
Two officials of an Iraq-based weapons dealer -- Syrian national Mohamad Deiry and Lebanese national Samer Rayya -- were charged with conspiring to ship munitions from the U.S. to Sudan and Iraq without a license, DOJ announced. An indictment, unsealed April 15, alleged the pair violated the Arms Export Control Act and conspired to commit money laundering to advance the "illicit procurement activities."
The Ukraine High Anti-Corruption Court on April 10 upheld the Ministry of Justice's bid to impose sanctions and confiscate the assets of former Minister of Education and Science Dmytro Tabachnyk, according to an unofficial translation. The court noted that Tabachnyk is in the "temporarily occupied territories" and helps support the creation and functioning of the occupying administrations. The Ukrainian government sought to confiscate five land plots, a residential building, half a share of an apartment and monetary assets from the former minister. Ukraine's enforcement of its sanctions regime takes the form of asset freezes, the seizure of property and criminal sanctions, according to a blog post from global law firm Baker McKenzie. Ukraine passed legislation last year allowing for the "expropriation of property of" sanctioned parties.
The Cyprus Bar Association (CBA) last week raided a lawyer's lobbying firm offices as part of an investigation into "suspected fictitious transactions," Cyprus newspaper Phileleftheros reported. The investigation centered on Finsol, a firm that provides services to Santinomo, which reportedly holds shares in Intellexa AE -- an entity that's part of U.S.-sanctioned spyware firm Intellexa. The suspicious transactions began "shortly after US sanctions were imposed on entities of the Intellexa group," the newspaper's report said. A Greek lawyer registered with CBA owns Finsol. The CBA's compliance and oversight department is conducting the investigation and, upon its conclusion, will send a report to the association's administrative council. The council will decide whether "disciplinary measures will be taken or, more importantly, whether the case will be referred to the police for criminal investigation," Phileleftheros reported.
A former North Korean official serving in Thailand, Myong Ho Ri, was charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions, bank fraud and money laundering, DOJ announced.
Ross Roggio of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on April 15 to 70 years in prison for torturing an Estonian citizen in 2015 in Iraq and for exporting weapons parts and related services to Iraq, DOJ announced. Roggio was convicted in May of "exporting weapons parts and services to Iraq" without approval, shipping "weapons tools to Iraq," smuggling, wire fraud and money laundering. He sent firearms parts and tools and "illegally trained foreign persons in the operation, assembly, and manufacturing of the M4 automatic rifle," DOJ said.