No punishment for violating sanctions on Russia

The National Crime Agency has said Britain has not handed out a single conviction for breaching Russian sanctions.

Financial sanctions were imposed on Russia following its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and a broader invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

These include restrictions on the export of weapons technology, facilitating illegal trade in Russian oil, and generally providing assistance to the government of President Vladimir Putin.

A law was introduced four years ago to allow Britain to prosecute those who violate sanctions.

However, in a letter to MPs, the NCA director general pointed to the complexity of the cases and said the allegations were made only once.

Last week Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was making it his personal mission to “stifle Russian revenues” through sanctions.

But critics have long claimed that Western sanctions have been less effective than first expected, and last year’s data reflects the Russian economy’s was growing.

Potential violations of financial sanctions are investigated by a Treasury unit called the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI).

OFSI received an additional £50m of funding in March to improve the implementation of the UK sanctions regime.

In October, BBC News revealed OFSI was investigating 37 businesses linked to the UK for potentially breaking Russian oil sanctions.

Another 15 cases were closed without any fines or other punishment and it is not known how many more cases have been closed since then.

In September, the body issued its first Russia-related fine when it fined a concierge company £15,000 for keeping a sanctioned individual on its client list.

London-based firm Integral Concierge Services was found to have made or received 26 payments including one to an individual whose assets were frozen as part of Russia sanctions.

In November, MPs on Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee questioned OFSI officials about the effectiveness of their investigations, but officials said the NCA was ultimately the body responsible for prosecuting and convicting those who breached the rules.

In a subsequent letter to the chair of the committee, NCA Director General Graeme Biggar pointed to the “complex and protracted” nature of the cases.

He said similar cases in comparable countries took an average of seven years to complete.

The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act, which is the law used to prosecute, was introduced only four years ago.

Mr Biggar said: “Financial investigations of this nature are typically complex and lengthy. As a result, there have been no prosecutions for offenses under the new sanctions and anti-money laundering acts.”

He said the NCA had “a number of ongoing investigations into financial sanctions breaches and other relevant offences, some of which await a charging decision”.

In February last year, the NCA filed charges against the former governor of the Crimean city, who was charged with seven counts of sanctions evasion and two counts of money laundering.

Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury select committee, said, “It is vital that the Government can demonstrate that there are consequences when sanctions are breached”.

He said that “we must maintain pressure on organizations linked to Russia and ensure that there is a clear deterrent measure that prevents anyone attempting to evade sanctions against Russia”.

In November, David Lammy said that Western sanctions had “deprived Russia of more than $400 billion through February 2022, the equivalent of four more years of funding for the invasion”.

When asked by MPs whether he would take action against UK companies that support the Russian oil industry, he said, “I suspect there is much more to come in the coming days.”

It is understood no such action has yet been taken, but the government appointed former Labor MP Baroness Margaret Hodge as an anti-corruption champion in December.