The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 10 issued a new general license authorizing certain non-commercial, personal remittances to Afghanistan. General License No. 16 authorizes certain transactions involving the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, or any entity they own by 50% or more if those transactions are “ordinarily incident and necessary to the transfer” of personal remittances to Afghanistan.

The United Nations Security Council on Dec. 8 removed two entries from its sanctions list. Designations no longer apply to Mahmud Dhiyab Al-Ahmed and Husam Muhammad Amin Al-Yassin, both Iraqi nationals.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 9 sanctioned seven people and eight entities in Central America, Africa and Europe for corruption. The designations target a multimillion-dollar corruption scheme involving “suspicious procurements” in El Salvador, government corruption in Guatemala and South Sudan, a former warlord in Liberia, a former government official in Ukraine and an embezzlement network in Angola. The U.S. announced the sanctions as part of International Anti-Corruption Day.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 8 sanctioned 16 people and 24 entities for corruption and human rights violations, continuing its string of designations this week under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (see 2112070058 and 2112060014). The designations target a crime network in Kosovo and their affiliated companies or entities across Europe. OFAC also sanctioned people in El Salvador for helping to coordinate a “secret truce” between the country’s government and gang leaders, including MS-13.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned people and entities in Uganda, Iran and Syria for human rights abuses or for undermining democratic institutions. The designations target military or government officials in all three countries as well as two Iranian law enforcement agencies and two Iranian prisons, OFAC said Dec. 7. The U.S. purposefully issued the sanctions just ahead of its democracy summit later this week, which will convene more than 100 of the world’s democracies to discuss collaboration on human rights issues, anti-corruption and more. “Consistent with the goals of this week’s Summit for Democracy, the United States is committed to using its full range of tools to counter serious human rights abuse and repressive acts across the world,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Alain Mukonda and 12 companies linked to Mukonda for providing support to sanctioned billionaire Dan Gertler, OFAC said Dec. 6. Mukonda and the companies are based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Iran hasn’t offered “serious” proposals to return to the Iranian nuclear deal and has continued to accelerate its nuclear program despite objections from the U.S. and other countries, a senior State Department official said. The official, speaking to reporters Dec. 4, suggested the latest round of talks to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action ended poorly after Iran demanded too many concessions and offered too little in return.

The United Kingdom amended sanctions listings under its Russia and Syria sanctions regimes, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Dec. 2. Russians Vladimir Andreevich Konstantinov and Petr Grigorievich Jarosh are still subject to an asset freeze, with slight modifications to their sanctions listings, OFSI said. Syrians Samir Izzat Qadi Amin and Samir Hassan remain subject to an asset freeze, with the statement of reasons on their listings updated, a notice said.

The Association of Certified Sanction Specialists recently added a blog post on the “Do’s and Don’ts of Sanctions Investigations,” detailing how firms should build their investigative teams, document the process, report findings and more. Sanctions investigations can be “hugely time-consuming and a major distraction from the day-to-day running of a business,” ACSS said, and companies should make sure they get the “balance right so that your investigation enables you to understand what went wrong, how to deal with the consequences and how to ensure it does not happen again.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 1 added three people and two entities to its Specially Designated Nationals List and deleted a range of other SDN entries. The additions are for Euclides Espana Caicedo, Hernan Dario Velasquez Saldarriaga, Nestor Gregorio Vera Fernandez, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army and Segunda Marquetalia. The State Department this week announced related terrorist designations (see 2111300029). OFAC also deleted a list of entries for people and groups with ties to Colombia and Venezuela. The agency didn’t release more information about the deletions.