Frozen assets of €1.4b from sanctions on Russia
08:40 - 16 March 2023
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has so far reserved over €1.4b in assets as a result of the sanctions against Russia, its Chairman George Theocharides said.
Theocharides said once the sanctions were imposed, CySEC requested information from its supervised entities about any business relationships they may have with individuals affected by the sanctions. He added that based on information from the Anti-Money Laundering Department, CySEC will continue to conduct audits in 2023.
"So far, €720 million have been reserved from Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs) and another €719 million have been reserved and held by administrative service providers (ASPs) under the supervision of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission," he said.
Theocharides said the Anti-Money Laundering Department had completed 14 on-site audits in 2022 and is currently in the process of completing the examination of another 15 audits, "for which potential violations" of anti-money laundering legislation may arise.
At the same time, according to Theocharides, in 2022 the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission imposed administrative sanctions of approximately €2.9m, of which the vast majority related to fines and settlements for CIFs. In the last two years, administrative sanctions of more that €4.2m have been imposed, of which over €3.6m concerned CIFs.