RUSSIA SANCTIONS
OFSI-turvy
T HE government’s financial sanctions watchdog’s belated report for 2023/24 shows what a consequence-free business trying to get round restrictions has been since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation closed 242 investigations in the year (there were 473 suspected breaches in 2022/23 and 296 in 2023/24). In 20 of these it found breaches (though in 61 it also made “no decision on breach”). And of the 20, in only two did it do more than privately issue a warning letter. In one case it referred the offender to its regulator; and in the other, a minor breach by payment provider Wise Transfer, it did publicise its findings.