The US Department of the Treasury on Wednesday announced sanctions on Russian and Chinese companies for violating the economic embargo on North Korea.
The department accused China-based Dalian Sun Moon Star International Logistics Trading Co and its Singapore-based affiliate, SINSMS Pte, of falsifying documents to facilitate shipments of alcohol and cigarettes to North Korea.
The shipments helped fuel what the Treasury alleged was a huge illicit cigarette trade earning Pyongyang US$1 billion a year.
It also blacklisted Russia-based Profinet Pte for violating UN sanctions by providing loading and refueling services to sanctioned ships at three eastern Russia ports.
The Treasury also named Profinet director-general Vasili Aleksandrovich Kolchanov, who it said was “personally involved” in deals with the North Koreans.
“The Treasury reminds the shipping industry ... of the significant risks posed by North Korea’s shipping practices,” it said in a statement.
The Chinese trading company said it has shipped cigarettes and alcohol to North Korea, but denied any wrongdoing.
“We shipped them through China customs clearance — it’s all legal and we have all the necessary legal formalities,” Dalian Sun Moon Star International Logistics Trading director Liang Ye (梁燁) said.
“We can only suspend our business now,” Liang said. “The company might go bankrupt.”
“The treasury will continue to implement existing sanctions on North Korea and will take action to block and designate companies, ports and vessels that facilitate illicit shipments and provide revenue streams to the DPRK [North Korea],” US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.
“Consequences for violating these sanctions will remain in place until we have achieved the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea,” he added.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS