Let’s Talk About Sanctions

The words sanctions and oligarchs have been thrown around a lot in the past few weeks and the Chief Min was keen to stress that we won’t be the weak link in the UK’s sanctions. 

But what does all of this mean?

To help break this down, we reached out to the Manx gov for an explanation as to what sanctions are imposed here and, in turn, how they are carried out.

Beginning with the oligarchs, this has, in essence, become shorthand in much of the western world for any Russian businessman (most are men, unfortunately) who are very wealthy and have, at least alleged, links to senior Russian government officials. As a fun aside for you fans of words, it comes from the Ancient Greek word oligarkhia, meaning ‘the rule of the few’.

Sanction Them

When it comes to sanctions, we have heard a lot from politicians about governments sanctioning these oligarchs who have invested heavily in western countries. 

They are being used in essence to target Putin and those close to him in a way that doesn’t involve countries such as the UK and USA going to war with Russia. However, there have been complaints, particularly of the UK (and by extension here), that the measures are too slow and are allowing people sanctioned to get their money out of the country.

But there have been differences between what has been announced in the EU and the UK, so which does the Isle of Man follow? Well simply it is the UK and that is because of our old friend Brexit (remember when that was what we were all worried about?).

However, the island may also keep tabs on people who the EU has identified, even if the UK hasn’t formally done so.

A gov spokesman explained: ‘The United Kingdom is constitutionally responsible for the island’s international relations and the Isle of Man Government’s longstanding policy has therefore been to keep its international sanctions measures in line with those that have effect in the UK from time to time. When the UK was an EU Member State this meant that the island followed EU sanctions measures; now that the UK has left the EU it is appropriate for the island’s legislation to align with the UK rather than the EU. However, the fact that a person or body is subject to EU sanctions may be taken into account in certain circumstances even if they are not subject to UK sanctions. The island brings its sanctions measures into line with those of the UK as quickly as practically possible.’

Is There a List?

Yes, it is the same as the UK’s list the links below will take you to a UK gov website.

Where’s the List?

Here. Or, if you want to help boost the number of clicks on gov.im, you can access it here and follow the links.

How Do We Make Sure of Compliance?

The government’s spokesman explained to us that it is the responsibility of everyone on the island to be aware of their obligations under financial and trade sanctions whether they are operating in regulated sectors or not. If you have any suspicions, you can report this to the Financial Intelligence Unit.

They added: ‘The Customs and Excise Division publishes information about changes to sanctions measures and flags them to a number of stakeholders such as the Financial Intelligence Unit and the IoM Financial Services Authority, which in turn will draw the changes to the attention of its regulated businesses.’