A negotiated penalty underlines Latvia’s strict enforcement of EU sanctions, with company liquidation and further penalties following an attempted export to Russia.
The Riga City Court in Latvia fined an entrepreneur €10,140 for attempting to breach the European Union sanctions against Russia.
The penalty was agreed upon by the prosecution and the defendant, and the court approved it.
Penalties and the Prosecutor’s Agreements
As part of this case, the prosecutor also reached agreements on applying coercive measures:
regarding the company for which the attempt to breach EU sanctions was made – the company was liquidated;
regarding another company, whose insufficient supervision allowed the defendant to commit the crime – €17,940 was recovered from it.
The defendant was a member of the board of one of the companies. Fulfilling an order from a Russia-registered firm, he tried to export to Russia Buchholz relays and control relays designed to protect transformers, with a total value of €161,352.
In January 2023, the defendant approached a company that provides customs brokerage services, asking to arrange an export customs procedure for these relays.
The company accepted the order and, relying on documents provided by the client, prepared and submitted an export declaration to the customs point of the Riga Free Port, without clarifying whether the relays fell under sanctions.
Sanctions Context and Investigation Outcomes
Since 2022, Latvia has opened more than 600 criminal proceedings related to violations of sanctions against the Russian Federation.
The case demonstrates the strict enforcement of EU sanctions against Russia in the export of equipment for energy and infrastructure.
This case underscores that sanctions restrictions rules remain relevant for business, and the legal mechanisms of an EU member country carefully verify compliance with such requirements in international trade and export.