Overview
On November 24, 2023, Global Investigations Review quoted Alexandra Melia in a piece titled "OFSI eases concerns around sanctioned officials' control over companies."
The article discusses the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation's (OFSI) latest guidance on ownership and control published on November 17 detailing that a sanctioned person should only be considered to exercise control over businesses when there is "sufficient evidence on a case-by-case basis" to prove this. GIR report that the burden on companies to undertake due diligence on ownership and control issues before proceeding with potentially risky transactions or business relationships remains high. Commenting on the issue Melia said "There is a challenge with respect to access to information that can make it difficult for companies to get a sufficient level of insight. . . So they have to choose whether to draw back from a transaction because they're not certain or take the risk that they've done enough. . . It's a tough call because most businesses want to be compliant and get it right."
Discussing the new guidance published by OFSI and the recent related Mints and Litasco judgments, Melia further stated "It puts businesses in a difficult position when deciding how much weight to give to any of these interpretations. Most companies want to adopt and operationalize a policy and controls to address this issue and they can't be readjusting their approach every time there's a new court judgment. . . Taken together, the guidance and the judgments fall short of offering certainty of outcomes for companies."
The full article can be read at Global Investigations Review (subscription required).
