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Business As Usual!

Even as the world battles the pandemic the USA sanctions teams appear be even more active than usual. Companies cannot drop the ball on their sanctions compliance as the downside could be crippling.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in the USA has so far issued more than 100 sanctions-related notices this year, running significantly ahead of the nearly 100 notices published in the entire 2019. These have included activities in the obvious States like North Korea, Iran, Syria and Venezuela, but also Hong Kong, China, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe and Mali.

The maritime and international trade industry is designated as high-risk sectors. Observers believe the focus on shipping will only intensify this year as countries continue to circumvent sanctions, taking advantage of the opaque chartering and vessel ownership environment to trade. OFAC, however, has shipping in the cross-hairs and has given not-so-subtle notice by releasing high quality satellite images showing mid-ocean ship-to-ship transfer of cargoes and detailing unusual document trails, whilst participating in multinational naval operations to disrupt sanctions busting.

This highlights the risk to businesses trying to navigate (or not) the sanctions minefield; it is not always easy to know which companies, subsidiaries or individuals have been sanctioned or if sanctions have been lifted against them. This is especially important because of the catch-all 50% rule, which captures any subsidiary or affiliate that is owned, or controlled, by 50% or more and would not be named specifically by, for example, OFAC. Just because it’s not on the SDN list certainly does not mean it is sanction free.

The downside of falling foul of sanctions can be enormous – recent cases include two Rosneft subsidiaries sanctioned in response to an attempt to assist Venezuela, Aviation services company, SITA, based in Geneva, paying US$7.8 million to settle with OFAC, Britain’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) fining Standard Chartered Bank a total of £20.5 million for breaching EU financial sanctions and Dutch authorities issuing charges for nearly US$ £6.5 million in penalties for the export of gas turbine components to Iran.

The only credible defense is an operable due-diligence system at least to mitigate the penalties, with an audit trail of KYC procedures that go beyond a surface-scratching fig-leaf. Companies cannot afford to take their eyes off the sanctions ball because you can rightly assume that the sanctions regimes will not.

LSR Services provides sanctions-related advice, due-diligence services and risk-management tools for shipping companies, commodity traders and financing institutes. We are trusted to reveal disguised structure and uncover the truth. Contact us on enquiry@lsrservices.com or phone Nathan Wheeler (founder) /Cari Chan (CEO) direct for a confidential tele-meeting on +852 25370090.

The US Government is continuing its efforts to isolate Iran.

Last week, some more “high-profile” Chinese shipping companies were added to the list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs). The sanctioned parties include subsidiaries and their executives of COSCO Shipping Corporation Ltd 中国远洋海运集团有限公司.

• COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co 大连中远海运油品运输有限公司
• COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman & Ship Management Co Limited大连中远海运油运船员船舶管理有 限公司
• China Concord Petroleum Co 中和石油有限公司,
• Pegasus 88 Limited 飞马88有限公司,
• Kunlun Shipping Company Ltd昆仑航运有限公司,
• Kunlun Holding Company Ltd 昆仑控股有限公司

Companies need to be aware of these SDNs, as well as with subsidiaries that are owned 50% or more by them. Of course, these subsidiaries are not listed by the US Government, leaving the onus on you to do you own due diligence.

LSR finds out who owns and directs your Chinese business counterparts. We will get the information from verifiable and reliable government sources to add to your audit trail.

Each company search will give you:

• Company Representative
• Directors
• Shareholders
• Share Capital
• Official documentary document as evidence

Fixed Price: US$ 85 per company

Delivery: 24 Hours

Insurers and Compliance officers trust us. We unearth commercial information and provide advice on low-profile companies in Asia and the Middle East. LSR listens to the details, understands what you need and gets you results – so that you can sleep at night.