The EU General Court upheld a lower court ruling that struck down the sanctions listings on former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his family members Gamal Mubarak, Alaa Mubarak, Heidy Rasekh, Khadiga El Gammal and Suzanne Saleh Thabet. The European Court of Justice had annulled the sanctions listings for Mubarak's family made in 2016 and 2017 and the 2018 listing of Mubarak himself. In March 2021, the EU reversed its Egypt sanctions, lifting restrictions on nine individuals. The General Court's April 6 ruling drops the sanctions imposed in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The court said it was unclear whether prior to implementing the sanctions, the European Council had fulfilled its duty to verify that the rights of defense and effective judicial protection were respected for the parties or that the council's actions were inadequate.

The U.K.'s more than $3.5 million fine of an unnamed British company over illegal exports of military goods (see 2204040020) lacks transparency, U.K. law firm Macfarlanes said in an April 19 post. The U.K.'s enforcement agency hasn't released any information about the violations that led to the fine despite it being the "largest penalty ever for breach of U.K. arms controls," the firm said.

Vietnam is prosecuting 11 Dai Minh Viet Inspection Co. executives and employees for submitting over 1,200 fraudulent certificates of inspection of imported goods used to allegedly smuggle 1,282 containers of second-hand machinery and equipment from Japan and Taiwan, the state-run CustomsNews reported April 17. The alleged scheme was discovered by the Saigon Port Zone 1 Customs Branch and the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department's Economic Policy Division, CustomsNews said. During the investigation, the police agency determined that Hoang Duy Tien, an officer of the Anti-Smuggling Team under the Economic Police Department of the HCM City Public Security, was the mastermind who established dozens of legal entities, named on customs declarations to import used goods to Vietnam.

The EU General Court annulled the sanctions listing of former Ukrainian President Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych and his son, Oleksandr Viktorovych Yanukovych, in a pair of March 30 orders. The two were listed in 2014 under the Ukraine sanctions regime in connection with the embezzlement of state funds. The listings were annulled because the EU Council failed to satisfy the Yanukovychs' right to defense and relied on criminal proceedings conducted by Ukrainian authorities that failed to respect effective judicial protection. The two remain subject to an asset freeze, with their sanctions listings renewed until Sept. 6.

Baker McKenzie's Ukraine wing has resumed operations after suspending all work due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the firm announced in a LinkedIn post (see 2203150058). While the Kyiv offices remain unavailable for client visits, Baker McKenzie's lawyers and staff will provide services to clients from other locations around Ukraine and other Baker McKenzie offices in Europe, the notice said. The firm did not clarify where in Ukraine the firm would continue operating. Baker McKenzie's Kyiv lawyers will be available via email or telephone and the firm's virtual reception will be open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Kyiv time on business days. "We are confident that the Kyiv office will return to its regular operation soon! Glory to Ukraine!" the notice said.

Syrian and Lebanese businessman Abdelkader Sabra saw his sanctions status annulled after successfully petitioning the case to the EU General Court. Sabra was listed under the EU's Syria sanctions regime as a prominent businessman in the country. The court said in a March 16 opinion that while Sabra had some business ties to Syria, the European Council hadn't showed he was linked to the Syrian regime, nor was there evidence he supported or benefited from it. As a result, the sanctions listing was annulled.

Singapore arrested a Malaysian national and seized over 1,000 cartons of cigarettes for which duties had not been paid, Singapore Customs announced March 15. The man was arrested during a March 12 operation during which Singapore Customs officers saw a Malaysia-registered vehicle and a Singapore-registered truck parked on the side of the road. The officers checked the vehicles and found 1,020 cartons of cigarettes, arresting the Malaysian man. The total duty and Goods and Services tax allegedly evaded totaled $87,100 and $6,930, respectively (in Singapore dollars), and court proceedings are ongoing, Singapore Customs said.

The U.K. must pay billions of euros in tariffs it failed to collect on knock-off Chinese clothes and shoes imports, the European Court of Justice said in a March 8 decision. The ECJ found that from 2011 to 2017, the U.K. failed to live up to its obligations under EU law to enter the correct amounts of customs duties and to make available the correct amount of "traditional own resources" and own resources accruing from value-added tax for the fraudulent textiles and footwear imports from China. The ECJ identified hundreds of millions of euros' worth of these lost duties every year that the U.K. must pay.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation fined London-based financial institution Clear Junction more than $49,000 for violating the country's sanctions on those violating the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine. From March to June 2018, Clear Junction conducted 15 transactions with accounts held at the EU-designated Russian National Commercial Bank. Clear Junction then made funds available to an individual designated under the Ukraine sanctions regime, OFSI said. Clear Junction made a voluntary disclosure, dropping the penalty by 26.7%. The financial services firm detailed eight of the transactions, but further investigation revealed nondisclosed payments from Clear Junction. TransferGo initiated the transactions, giving a Russian Bank Identification Code to Clear Junction to enable the transactions, OFSI said. TransferGo was fined in August for its role in the scheme.

The French Court of Cassation requested the European Court of Justice to interpret an element of the EU's sanctions on Iraq. The request comes in a case brought by Dutch air pollution control equipment company Instrubel NV in which a French court found that "preventative attachments" against Montana Management -- a trust fund formerly owned by Saddam Hussein -- were void because Montana hadn't been served. Montana was placed under the EU's Iraq sanctions regime in 2006, an EU Sanctions blog post said. Instead of serving Montana, the Iraqi government was served in the case. The Iraqi government in 2011 took control over the mandate of the Development Fund of Iraq, which the U.N. set up in 2003 to distribute assets seized from the Iraqi regime.