European Commission proposes to punish those who try to avoid sanctions against Russia

The European Comission (EC) proposed this Friday to punish with a maximum of five years in prison those who try to avoid the sanctions against Russia agreed at the European level, with the aim of making the restrictive measures imposed by the war in Ukraine more effective.

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With this, Brussels also wants to facilitate the confiscation of frozen Russian assets, “because for this a criminal conviction is necessary”said the community spokesman for Justice, Christian Wigand, at a press conference.

Although he did not want to single out any country in particular, he admitted that in some Member States certain behaviors are considered mere “administrative faults”.

Brussels also wants to avoid loopholes and that there are jurisdictions in the EU “more favorable than others, where it is less problematic to evade sanctions”added the Justice spokesman.

Under the proposal, it will be a crime to circumvent or try to avoid European sanctions by hiding funds or the fact that a person is the ultimate owner.

In the case of companies, the sanctions would be at least 5% of the total world turnover in the previous year, as proposed by Brussels.

“We hope that the proposal will be adopted in the coming months,” said the community spokesperson.

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The proposal sets out common rules that will facilitate the investigation, prosecution and punishment of sanctions breaches in all Member States equally, closing existing loopholes.

The European Union has adopted to date eight sanctions packages against Russia (and is preparing a ninth) for the invasion of Ukraine.

The application of sanctions, according to the Community Executive, “It shows the complexity of identifying assets owned by oligarchs, who hide them in different jurisdictions through elaborate legal and financial structures.”

The Brussels proposal “it will close existing legal loopholes and increase the deterrent effect of violating EU sanctions in the first place”according to the Commission.

The Brussels proposal includes a list of criminal offenses that violate the sanctions of the EUbeginning with the fact of making funds or economic resources available to a designated person, entity or body or not freezing those funds.

It also penalizes allowing the entry or transit of persons designated by the sanctions in the territory of a Member State.

Likewise, the list provides for the criminalization of carrying out transactions with third countries that are prohibited or restricted by sanctions.

The trade of goods or services whose import, export, sale, purchase, transfer, transit or transportation is prohibited or restricted would also be punished.

Prohibited or restricted financial activities or providing other prohibited services, for example legal advice or tax consulting, would also be included.

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The proposal will now be debated by the European Parliament and the Council (EU countries).

In May 2022, the Commission already proposed adding the violation of the restrictive measures of the EU to the list of crimes of the EU.

At once, Brussels has already proposed rules on asset recovery and confiscation, which will also contribute to the application of the sanctions of the EU.

The new rules proposed today are related to the rules presented last Wednesday aimed at confiscating Russian assets that have been frozen by EU sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and use them to invest in the reconstruction of the country in collaboration with international partners.

The European Union has frozen Russian private assets worth 18.9 billion euros as a result of the different sanctions packages adopted for its attack on Ukraine, while there are 300 billion dollars (about 289 billion euros) of reserves of the Russian Central Bank immobilized between the EU countries and their G7 partners – the United States, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.