The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued a Jan. 4 guidance on the U.K.’s financial sanctions against Libya, detailing the types of asset freezes the U.K. can enforce. The guidance also covers how the U.K. prohibits transactions involving Libyan oil aboard ships designated by the United Nations, how the sanctions affect subsidiaries of sanctioned entities and how the U.K. determines ownership.
U.S. people and entities do not need to divest their holdings in publicly traded securities of Chinese military companies by Jan. 11 despite President Donald Trump’s Nov. 12, 2020, executive order banning future investments in the companies, the Treasury Department said Jan. 4 (see 2011130026). Treasury said U.S. “persons,” including U.S. funds and “related market intermediaries and participants,” are not required by Jan. 11, 2021, to divest from securities of the entities listed by the order, including “securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to, such securities.” People and companies may make certain divestments involving the Chinese military companies through Nov. 11, 2021, as long as those securities were held as of 9:30 a.m. EST Jan. 11, 2021, the order said. Treasury recently issued guidance on what types of investment transactions are banned (see 2012290017).
The U.S. sanctioned one person and 16 entities for their involvement in Iran’s metal sector, the Treasury Department said Jan. 5. The sanctions target Kaifeng Pingmei New Carbon Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (KFCC), a Chinese graphite electrode supplier; 12 Iranian steel producers, including the Middle East Mines and Mineral Industries Development Holding Co.; and three foreign sales agents of an Iranian metals company. The State Department also sanctioned KFCC, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines subsidiary Hafez Darya Arya Shipping Co. and Majid Sajdeh, a principal executive officer of Hafez Darya.
The State Department announced sanctions and other penalties on entities and people for “significant transactions” involving Iranian petroleum products, a Jan. 6 notice said. The sanctions apply to Arya Sasol Polymer Company, Binrin Limited, Bakhtar Commercial Company, Kavian Petrochemical Company, Strait Shipbrokers PTE Ltd., Amir Hossein Bahreini, Lin Na Wei, Murtuza Mustafamunir Basrai, Hosein Firouzi Arani and Ramezan Oladi, the notice said. The penalties include prohibitions on certain foreign exchange transactions, transfers of credit, asset freezes, investment restrictions, and import restrictions on goods, technology or services from the entities.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control Dec. 31 released its annual terrorist assets report for 2019. The report includes an overview of OFAC terrorism sanctions, their impact, enforcement measures and a summary of blocked assets.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control Jan. 4 issued a revised general license that continues to authorize certain transactions (see 1908060048) with Venezuela's “Interim President” Juan Guaido, his staff and others operating under his government. OFAC also amended frequently asked question 679, which outlines the people and entities covered by general license No. 31A.
The State Department released its annual report on U.S. actions taken under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act during 2020. The agency said the U.S. took “significant action” under its human rights sanctions program, which included actions against Chinese officials for human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region (see 2007310028), “corrupt actors” in South Sudan (see 2001080023), and Ugandan officials complicit in an adoption scam victimizing children born in that country (see 2008170018). The report contains a list of all the sanctions targets under the human rights regime in 2020.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Venezuelan judge and prosecutor for presiding over the prosecution of the “Citgo 6,” the six U.S. citizens who were “unjustly imprisoned” in Venezuela in 2017, OFAC said Dec. 30. The designations target Judge Lorena Carolina Cornielles Ruiz and prosecutor Ramon Antonio Torres Espinoza. OFAC said the trials of the six Citgo executives were based on “politically motivated charges and marred by a lack of fair trial guarantees.”
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation removed Rafidain Bank from its Iraq sanctions list, a Dec. 24 notice said. The U.K. said the Iraq government owns the bank, which also has branches in the Middle East and Africa, but the London branch “is in provisional liquidation.” It is no longer subject to an assets freeze.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Dec. 18 amended a range of sanctions entries to update identifying information. The updates pertain to sanctions entries listed under Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Iran, North Korea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The entries are still subject to asset freezes.