The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Paraguayan tobacco company Tabacalera del Este S.A. for financially supporting former Paraguayan President Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara, sanctioned by OFAC last year for corruption (see 2301260073). The agency previously added Tabacalera del Este to its Specially Designated Nationals List for being owned by Cartes (see 2303310033), but Cartes has since sold the company, OFAC said, so the agency is now designating it under a 2017 executive order that authorizes Global Magnitsky sanctions for serious human rights abuses and corruption.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control renewed two Russia-related general licenses last week that authorize transactions related to debt, equity or currency-conversion. Both licenses were scheduled to expire Aug. 13 but now expire 12:01 a.m. EDT Oct. 12.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is transitioning to a new online compliance hotline platform that it said will allow the agency to more efficiently respond to sanctions-related requests and questions from the public. Users can now submit queries directly through the OFAC Compliance Hotline page, the agency announced Aug. 2, which will help the “tracking of queries and help OFAC assess when additional public guidance may be helpful.” The agency said it plans to retire its current compliance hotline email adress on Aug. 16 and phone number on Dec. 31, and will fully transition to the online portal starting Jan. 1.
The U.N. Security Council and the U.K. removed two people tied to Yemen from their sanctions lists, including former Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who died in 2017. They also removed his son, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, who the council said has “played a key role in facilitating the Houthi military expansion,” after lobbying from Yemeni leaders, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Aug. 2. Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh is Yemen’s ambassador to the UAE.
The U.S. sanctioned two more people and four companies in China and Yemen that have helped procure weapons for the Yemen-based Houthis, allowing the group to continue attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea and civilians in Israel, the Treasury Department said this week.
The U.N. Security Council should urge member states to bolster their sanctions enforcement against terrorist financing, a U.N. body said in a recent report, warning that terrorist groups are increasingly using cryptocurrencies and 3D printing to either evade restrictions or make their own weapons.
The Biden administration continues to consider imposing additional sanctions to reduce China’s export of dual-use goods to Russia’s defense industrial base, a State Department official told a congressional panel July 30.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned five people and seven entities across mainland China, Hong Kong and Iran for helping to provide key parts to Iran’s missile and drone programs. OFAC said they procure accelerometers, gyroscopes and other components that “serve as key inputs” for Iranian weapons programs, which that country uses to produce drones for Russia and its “proxies” in the Middle East.
The Council of the EU on July 26 sanctioned nine people and one entity for committing human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Council of the European Union extended its anti-terrorism sanctions regime on July 26 and added one entity to the restrictions list. The council sanctioned The Base, a right-wing extremist group "involved in terrorist acts" and founded in 2018. The sanctions regime now covers 15 people and 22 entities.