Credit Suisse may pay $536 million
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse has announced it is close to an agreement with US financial regulators concerning its dealings with countries that are subject to US economic sanctions. The bank says that it has closed its representative office in Tehran, Iran as part of its own probe into the investigation by US and New York regulators.
As part of the deal Credit Suisse may pay a $536 million fine, and says it has booked a pre-tax CHF445 million provision in the current quarter.
Update 8 October Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, is making an unannounced trip to Geneva to take part in Telecom, the Swiss Foreign Affairs Department (DFAE) has confirmed to GenevaLunch. Mugabe arrived in Geneva 7 October. [Ed. note: Telecom TV reports on his appearance at the show and his remarks which "baffled the media."]
Right to visit UN overrides Swiss sanctions
Mugabe is under visa and financial sanctions from the United States, the European Union and Switzerland, but as the host country of a UN-sponsored event, Switzerland cannot ban his visit to a UN event, a spokesperson in Bern says. The situation is identical to that in New York in September, when Mugabe attended the General Assembly of the UN.
Mugabe is explicity banned from entering Switzerland, except for UN events. Two accounts with a value of CHF547,000 have been blocked in Switzerland in connection with the sanctions, which were put into effect because of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and to prevent money laundering.
Switzerland’s legal obligations as the host country also mean Mugabe cannot be shadowed constantly during his visit to ensure that he and his entourage do not have contact with financial advisors or bankers, although the penalties are steep for a bank dealing with any of the 240 people on the Zimbabwe sanctions list.
Vevey, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Nestlé subsidiary in Zimbabwe buys milk produced on Gushunga Dairy Estate farms seized from their owners between 2002 and 2004, the UK’s Sunday Telegraph reports 26 September.
The dairy farms are part of an estimated 4,800 hectares of prime agricultural land reportedly owned by Robert and Grace Mugabe. Both are on what the EU has labeled “targeted sanctions” lists, with visa and some trade restrictions set for more than 20o individuals and some 40 countries. These were first imposed in 2002 in the wake of the seizures of lands owned by white farmers, part of Mugabe’s land reform. They were extended following the disputed presidential elections in June 2008.
Switzerland also adopted targeted sanctions, in line with those of the European Union [ed. note: UK media have incorrectly reported that Switzerland does not have sanctions because it is not part of the EU], but the Gushunga Dairy is not on the identical EU and Swiss government list of blacklisted businesses. A spokesperson at the finance ministry in Bern told GenevaLunch Monday that the ministry contacted Nestlé when it became aware of the milk sales and it has been assured that the sales are entirely the business of its Zimbabwe subsidiary. “Nestlé confirmed that no individuals or companies in Switzerland were in any way involved in the relevant transactions. Therefore, no further investigations are planned at the moment.” The Bern office noted that the “Swiss legislation on international sanctions, including the sanctions against Zimbabwe, deploys its effects only in the territory of Switzerland. Foreign subsidiaries of Swiss companies are not subject to the Swiss legislation. The dealings of Nestlé Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd are therefore not in violation of the Swiss sanctions regulation against Zimbabwe.”
Swiss and EU sanctions involve only transfers of money or transactions with companies outside Zimbabwe: Even if Gushunga Dairy were on the list, the sanctions would not apply.
China has begun supplying oil to Iran in the past month and already accounts for one-third of the country’s fuel imports, the Financial Times reports. Oil imports are not part of a United Nations sanction and the supplies are legal, but the move comes as G20 world leaders, meeting in New York Wednesday 23 September, discuss enforcing sanctions against Iran to discourage it from further developing its nuclear programme. Iran insists the nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, as a source of energy, and that it is not building bombs. The country is one of the world’s largest oil producers, but its aging system is inefficient and it imports 120,000 barrels a day, according to the FT. China agreed in 2004 to purchase oil from Iran and to invest in its system. The $100 billion deal in 2006 prompted concern in the US, with observers saying that China appeared to be rushing to sign the deal ahead of sanctions. In the latest twist to the story China’s oil replaces that from companies such as BP which have stopped supplying Iran. Washington Post, 2006, Brookings Institution editorial, July 2009
Targeted sanctions on leading Zimbabwe government officials, in place since disputed presidential elections in 2002, will not be lifted soon, according to a high-level delegation from the European Union (EU) which ended a two-day mission to Zimbabwe 13 September.
After a meeting with President Robert Mugabe, Gunilla Carlsson, Sweden’s international development minister, said “The political agreement was an important step forward, but much needs to be done. The key to re-engagement is the full implementation of the political agreement“. Mugabe has called for a lifting of the EU sanctions, arguing “sanctions are serving no humanitarian purpose, they are causing lots of suffering among the people right at the bottom”.
The EU is Zimbabwe’s main donor and its aid budget is currently frozen at €90 million. A Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting 8 September called for Western sanctions to be lifted. Al-Jazeera, The Sunday Telegraph
Southern African nations meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo,8 September called for an end to Western sanctions on Zimbabwe. Sanctions have been in place since before a unity government was formed in 2008 with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The call to lift sanctions is seen as a significant victory for Mugabe, who says that the country urgently needs $10 billion in development aid. Tsvangirai has called for the full implementation of the accords before sanctions are lifted.
Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa and a key member of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), said at the beginning of the conference that he hoped the Zimbabwe government’s divisions could be healed quickly in order for foreign aid to be resumed. At the end, he said that he now sees no reason why conditions should be imposed before lifting sanctions. BBC, Reuters, AllAfrica
North Korea says it is in the “final stages of uranium enrichment” and that extracted plutonium from spent fuel rods is “being weaponized”. Both technologies are steps in making a bomb. Experts outside the country believe Pyongyang may have enough plutonium to make about eight bombs.
In a letter to the UN Security Council the North says it is ready for dialogue, but that “if some permanent members of the UN Security Council wish to put sanctions first before dialogue, we would respond with bolstering our nuclear deterrence first before we meet them in a dialogue.” International sanctions have been tightened on the North, and North Korean ships have been trailed at sea and challenged. Recent overtures by the Pyongyang government have largely been ignored: two US journalists were released and a North Korean delegation was sent to the lying-in-state of deceased South Korean former President Kim Dae-jung. The US is trying to get North Korea to return to stalled six-party talks with South Korea, Russia, China and Japan to discuss its nuclear programme. BBC, CNN, Reuters
The Financial Times has learned that Italy has blocked the sale of two luxury yachts for an estimated $17.8 million because it suspected they were for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The sale would have broken international sanctions against the country. Financial Times
The North Korean government announced it would enrich uranium and weaponize its plutonium stocks in a defiant response to the UN Security Council’s resolution to impose stricter sanctions on the country. The sanctions include a ban on arms purchase from North Korea, with which it finances its nuclear program, and searches of its ships at sea. The United States is considering applying greater restrictions on North Korea’s access to the international financial system. FT, BBC, CNN
Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Vaud parliament’s upper house (cantonal council) has submitted to the ruling Grand Conseil its new law that will prohibit indoor smoking in public places starting 1 September 2009, reports the Tribune de Geneve. The ban, approved by voters 30 November 2008, covers administrative offices, prisons, schools, museums, theatres, cinemas, public transport, shopping malls, tents, and public buildings.
North Korean military are preparing a long-range missile test launch that violates existing United Nations sanctions Wednesday 24 March. These activities have heightened political tension with neighbouring countries and the US. North Korea’s last test rocket blew apart seconds after takeoff July 2006. Reuters, International Herald Tribune
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