The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a Venezuela-related designation, amended three Venezuela-related general licenses and amended two frequently asked questions, according to a March 12 notice. The designation targets Switzerland-based TNK Trading International S.A. for operating in Venezuela’s oil sector. The company is a subsidiary of Russian state-controlled Rosneft Oil Company, according to a press release.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four Mexican businesses because of their links to Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and the Los Cuinis Drug Trafficking Organization, Treasury said in a March 11 news release. The designated companies include the asset holding company International Investments Holding S.A. de C.V. and a gas station company GBJ de Colima, S.A. de C.V. The two companies have been involved in helping Los Cuinis and CJNG to evade U.S. sanctions.
Swedbank may have committed 586 violations of U.S. sanctions and self-disclosed the violations to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the bank said March 11. The bank said the violations involved about $4.8 million worth of transactions between 2014 and 2019 and include payments with its subsidiaries in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. More than 500 of the violations constituted “salary payments” and other payments associated with the operation of a vessel and operator located in Crimea that used Swedbank in the Baltics.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Zimbabwean government officials for human rights violations, Treasury said in a March 11 news release. Anselem Sanyatwe, former commander of the Zimbabwean National Army’s Presidential Guard Brigade, and Owen Ncube, the country’s minister of national security, committed violations against people protesting the country’s “flawed elections” and supporters of a Zimbabwean opposition group. OFAC also removed sanctions against Ray Kaukonde, Shuvai Ben Mahofa, Sithokozile Mathuthu and Naison Ndlovu, who were previously designated under Zimbabwe sanctions.
The Royal United Services Institute issued a March 5 report stating that a fleet of North Korean cargo ships is delivering coal to China in violation of international sanctions. RUSI called the operation a “large-scale, coordinated effort” to evade United Nations Sanctions, which includes North Korean ships transmitting “fake details” over their Automatic Identification System transponders when visiting Chinese waters. While RUSI says evidence of North Korea shipping coal to China first surfaced in a 2019 UN report, the institute said its findings confirm the UN information despite denials at the time from China. “Not only do North Korean vessels continue to visit this specific region,” RUSI said, “but they are doing so in unprecedented numbers.”
The U.S. is continuing sanctions against Venezuela, the White House said in a March 5 notice. The White House said Venezuela continues to threaten U.S. national security, and the sanctions will continue beyond the expiration date of March 8.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control is removing the Terrorism Sanctions Regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations, OFAC said in a notice. The change was made due to the “termination of the national emergency on which the regulations were based.” The change will not affect any action taken or any action pending and not “finally concluded” as of 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2019, the notice said. The change is effective March 10.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation removed two entries from its sanctions list for misappropriation of funds and human rights violations related to Ukraine, according to a March 6 notice. The entries, Mykola Yanovych Azarov Edward Stavytskyi, are no longer subject to an asset freeze.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended five entries under the country’s Libya sanctions, according to a March 6 notice. The entries are still subject to an asset freeze.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added three entries to its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list, according to a March 5 notice. The sanctions targeted Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant -- Libya,” and the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant -- Yemen.” The three entries were added to the United Nations ISIL (Da’esh), al‑Qaida sanctions list March 4.