SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Anders Leissner, Martin Johansson, Isak Lefvert and Imola Szanto, Advokatfirman Vinge KB
a designated person is at hand when “it is possible for the [funds/goods/services] to be passed on to that person or for that person to have the ability to dispose of them, in the light, inter alia, of the exist - ence of financial or legal links between the benefi - ciary … and such a person”. 7.3 Circumvention 7.3.1 Prohibiting Provisions The sanctions regimes applicable in Sweden generally contain express anti-circumvention provisions. The relevant prohibitions are primarily found in EU regu - lations, such as Article 12 of Regulation 833/2014, which prohibits knowing and intentional participation in activities whose object or effect is to circumvent the prohibitions in that Regulation. Equivalent or closely similar provisions are found in Article 9 of Regulation 269/2014, concerning Russia, and in Regulations 267/2012 and 359/2011, concerning Iran, as well as in the regimes concerning the non-government-con - trolled areas of Ukraine, Libya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In practice, these provisions are capable of capturing arrangements that preserve the economic substance of a prohibited transaction while seeking to avoid its formal appearance. This may include the use of intermediaries, nominee arrangements, third-country routing, re-export structures, misleading ownership information or other devices designed to conceal that funds, economic resources, goods, services or tech -
nology ultimately benefit a sanctioned person, entity, sector or destination. 7.3.2 Criminal Penalties Section 5 of the Sanctions Act expressly criminalises circumvention of a prohibition, obligation or restriction contained in an EU Council sanctions regulation or in Swedish rules or decisions adopted under the Act. The following acts of circumventions are criminalised: • using, transferring to a third party, or otherwise disposing of property that is directly or indirectly owned, held or controlled by designated persons, entities or bodies and should be frozen; • providing false or misleading information to con - ceal that a designated person, entity or body owns or is the ultimate beneficiary of property that should be frozen; and • failing to provide competent authorities with required information about frozen property or other property belonging to, owned, held or controlled by designated persons, entities or bodies where that information was obtained in the course of a profes - sional duty. Criminal liability requires intent or gross negligence. The penalties applicable to the crime of circumven - tion are the same as the penalties applying to other sanctions offences; see 2.2.2 Breaching Sanctions .
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