Following a recent announcement regarding the designation by OFAC of Ventspils Freeport Authority (VFA) on 9 December, OFAC now announced the removal of those sanctions on 18 December 2019.
The Authority was designated on 9 December for being owned or controlled by Latvian oligarch Aivars Lembergs (Lembergs).
Following the designation of Lembergs and the Ventspils Freeport Authority, the Latvian government passed legislation effectively ending Lembergs’ control of the Ventspils Freeport Authority.
According to the legislation, the port will be supervised by four representatives appointed by the Latvian government. Lembergs resigned from the Ventspils Freeport Authority on December 10, 2019, where he had previously served as the Chairman of the Board,
…OFAC stated.
As a result of this latest action, all property and interests in property, that had been blocked solely as a result of the VFA’s designation, are unblocked and all otherwise lawful transactions involving US persons and the VFA are no longer prohibited.
OFAC designated Aivars Lembergs (Lembergs) pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption.
Lembergs was designated for being a foreign person who is a current or former government official responsible for or complicit in, or directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
