On December 23, 2017, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia issued an opinion, ruling that a U.S. citizen detained as an “enemy combatant” has the right to a lawyer. On or about September 12, 2017, the U.S. and Saudi Arabian dual national surrendered to Syrian Democratic forces, after which he was transferred to the U.S. Armed Forces.  He has been held since, without charges or counsel, as an enemy combatant.   According to the Defense Department (DOD), he remains detained within an armed conflict zone with restricted civilian access.  Other than two visits from representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross – on September 29, 2017 and October 23, 2017 – the detainee has had no contact or communication with anyone except government personnel since his detention.

On December 22, 2017, Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. (KOM), a company based in Singapore that operates shipyards and repairs and upgrades shipping vessels, and its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Keppel Offshore & Marine USA Inc. (KOM USA), agreed to resolve criminal charges and pay a combined total penalty of more than $422 million to resolve charges with law enforcement authorities in the United States, Brazil and Singapore.  The case arises out of a scheme dating back ten years to pay millions of dollars in bribes to officials in Brazil.  KOM is the largest builder of oil rigs in the world.

On December 21, 2017, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) finished enforcement proceedings by concluding that the bank seriously violated anti-money laundering regulations by failing to screen adequately transactions and business relationships booked in Switzerland with respect to the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund (1MDB) and one of its business partners.

This article covers two recent congressional hearings on various legislative proposals to counter terrorism and illicit finance:

·         November 29, 2017: The House Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee and the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee’s hearing on legislative proposals to counter terrorism and illicit finance;

·          November 26, 2017: The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on S.1241: Modernizing AML Laws to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. 

At its sitting held on November 24, 2017, the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), adopted its Opinion 296 (2017) on the Draft Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 108). The Opinion addresses key problems and obstacles experienced both within the Council and among the member states in the process of amending one of its flagship instruments, Convention 108.

On December 15, 2017, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHRC) and human rights non-government organizations criticized international human rights abuses in Iraq. The UNHRC said it was deeply shocked and appalled at the mass executions on December 14 of 38 men at a prison in Nassiriya, Iraq.  The 38 persons executed had been convicted for terrorism-related crimes.

On December 8, 2017, the Peruvian Congress initiated impeachment action against the country’s president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, through a motion passed by a vote of 93-17.  The opposition currently controls Congress, and seeks Kucynski’s removal over grafts related to the work of his companies for Odebrecht. However, on December 21, 2017, Kuczynski survived the vote when 10 members of a hard right opposition party abstained rather than supported his impeachment.

 On December 15, 2017, talks between the EU Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, and the European Commission reached a provisional agreement, amending and tightening the measures to the EU Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (the Directive).  A final text will be circulated, and on December 20, 2017, a meeting of the Permanent Representative’s Committee (COREPER, Ambassador’s level) will adopt the proposal.

The Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (“the Assembly” or “ASP”) held its sixteenth session at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from December 4 to 14, 2017. In his opening remarks, the President of the Assembly, H. E. Mr. Sidiki Kaba (Senegal), called on all States to work towards the universal ratification of the Rome Statute and the integration of its norms into national legal systems. He underscored the link between State cooperation and the Court’s effectiveness, credibility and independence.

On December 13, 2017, amici curiae filed briefs in the United States v. Microsoft Corp case set to go before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2017-2018 term. The case concerns the U.S. Justice Department’s access to an individual’s private emails stored at Microsoft’s Dublin data center. At issue in this case is whether the warrant provisions of the Stored Communications Act (SCA) – which is part of the broader Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 – apply extraterritorially, such that they compel Microsoft, an electronic service provider, to produce private electronic communications stored on servers in Ireland for the United States government.