On the event of Worldwide Anti-Corruption Day and on the eve of Worldwide Human Rights Day, the US is taking the next actions to advertise accountability for corruption and human rights abuse all over the world. These actions embody monetary sanctions, utilizing Govt Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the International Magnitsky Act, and 4 further country-focused Govt Orders. The actions additionally embody visa restrictions pursuant to Part 7031(c) of the Division of State, International Operations, and Associated Applications Appropriations Act, 2022 (Div. Ok, P.L. 117-103), as carried ahead by the Persevering with Appropriations Act, 2023 (Div. A, P.L. 117-180) and pursuant to Part 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
All property and pursuits in property of people or entities designated underneath E.O.s 14024, 13818, 13722, 13687, or 13553 which might be in the US or within the possession or management of U.S. individuals are blocked and should be reported to the Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of International Property Management (OFAC). As well as, any entities which might be owned, instantly or not directly, 50 p.c or extra by a number of blocked individuals are additionally blocked. Until approved by a common or particular license issued by OFAC, or in any other case exempt, all transactions by U.S. individuals or inside (or transiting) the US that contain any property or pursuits in property of designated or in any other case blocked individuals are prohibited. The prohibitions embody the making of any contribution or provision of funds, items, or companies by, to, or for the advantage of any blocked particular person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, items, or companies from any such particular person.
Part 7031(c) offers that in instances the place there may be credible info that officers of overseas governments have been concerned in vital corruption or a gross violation of human rights, these people and their fast members of the family are usually ineligible for entry into the US and should be both publicly or privately designated. INA Part 212(a)(3)(C) offers grounds for the Secretary of State to exclude any alien whose entry he determines would have doubtlessly critical adversarial overseas coverage penalties for the US.
Actions Taken for Important Corruption
El Salvador
Conan Tonathiu Castro Ramirez (Castro Ramirez), Presidential Authorized Secretary
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Castro Ramirez for facilitating the cover-up of fraud by obstructing investigations into the misappropriation of public funds throughout the pandemic and for instantly partaking in corrupt actions through the use of his workplace for private monetary acquire.
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is publicly designating Castro Ramirez for his involvement in vital corruption. As a part of this motion, 4 fast members of the family are additionally designated.
Oscar Rolando Castro (Castro), Minister of Labor
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Castro for partaking in corruption and misappropriating public funds for his private profit. Rolando used aligned unions to profit himself and political allies in alternate for categorical processing of union credentials, amongst different advantages.
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Castro for his involvement in vital corruption. As a part of this motion, a direct member of the family can be designated.
Guatemala
Allan Estuardo Rodriguez Reyes (Rodriguez), Former President of Congress
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Rodriguez for utilizing his political affect to award development grants in alternate for monetary kickbacks in addition to providing bribes for votes on a invoice in congress.
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Rodriguez for his involvement in vital corruption. As a part of this motion, one fast member of the family can be designated.
Jorge Estuardo Vargas Morales (Vargas), Congressman
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Vargas for corruption associated to contracts and operations at government-run ports. Vargas maintains affect on the port by bribery, creating blockades and strikes for private revenue.
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Vargas for his involvement in vital corruption. As a part of this motion, 4 fast members of the family are additionally designated.
Luis Alfonso Chang Navarro (Chang), Former Minister of Power and Mines
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Chang for utilizing his place to safe kickbacks. Chang solicited bribes and different favors in alternate for not revoking licenses.
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Chang for his involvement in vital corruption. As a part of this motion, two fast members of the family are additionally designated.
Haiti
Romel Bell, Former Director Basic of the Basic Administration of Customs
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Romel Bell for abusing his public place by taking part in corrupt exercise that undermined the integrity of Haiti’s authorities. As a part of this motion, one fast member of the family was additionally designated.
Rony Celestin, Senator
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Rony Celestin for abusing his public place by taking part in corrupt exercise that undermined the integrity of Haiti’s authorities. As a part of this motion, 4 fast members of the family are additionally designated.
Mali
Karim Keita (Keita), Former President of the Nationwide Meeting’s Protection Committee
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Keita, and one entity managed by Keita, Konijane Strategic Advertising and marketing, for involvement in corruption. Keita used his place as chairman of the Nationwide Meeting’s Safety and Protection Fee to embezzle protection spending, safe bribes, and redirect contracts to his associates. Moreover, Keita used protection funds to bribe different officers in help of the 2018 re-election of his father, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who’s the previous President of Mali.
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Keita for misappropriation of public funds. As a part of this motion, two fast members of the family are additionally designated.
Ukraine
Pavlo Vovk (Vovk), Chairman of the Kyiv District Administrative Courtroom
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Vovk for soliciting bribes in return for interfering in judicial and different public processes. As a part of this motion, two fast members of the family are additionally designated.
Motion Taken Associated to Human Rights Abuses and Violations
Azerbaijan
Kerim Heydar Alimardanov (Alimardanov), an official within the Primary Division for Combating Organized Crime throughout the Azerbaijani Ministry of Inner Affairs, often called the “Bandotdel”
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Alimardanov for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, particularly torture of detainees in 2015 and 2016.
Burundi
Alain Guillaume Bunyoni (Bunyoni), a former Burundian official
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Bunyoni for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights.
Democratic Individuals’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)
Border Guard Basic Bureau (BGGB)
- Pursuant to E.O. 13687, which authorizes imposition of sanctions with respect to the DPRK, the Division of the Treasury is designating the BGGB for being an company, instrumentality, or managed entity of the Authorities of DPRK or the Staff’ Get together of Korea. DPRK state safety companies, together with the BGGB, thwart escapes by tight border controls, together with land mines and shoot-on-sight orders which have resulted within the deaths of quite a few North Koreans.
Two DPRK-related people and Seven Entities
- Pursuant to E.O. 13722, which authorizes the imposition of sanctions with respect to the DPRK and Staff’ Get together of Korea, the Division of the Treasury is designating two people in addition to seven associated entities for offering materials help to, performing on behalf of, or being owned by the DPRK’s government-run animation studio, SEK Studio. The targets are: Kim Myong Chol, primarily based in France; Eternal Empire Restricted, primarily based in Hong Kong; Tian Fang (Hong Kong) Holding Restricted, primarily based in Hong Kong; Fujian Nan’an Import and Export Firm, primarily based in China; Restricted Legal responsibility Firm Kinoatis, primarily based within the Russian Federation; and Funsaga Pte Ltd, primarily based in Singapore; Deepak Subhash Jadhav primarily based in India; Yancheng Three Line One Level Animation Co., Ltd, primarily based in China; Quanzhou Yiyangjin Import and Export Commerce Co., Ltd., primarily based in China.
Guinea
Alpha Conde (Conde), former president of Guinea
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Conde for his connection to critical human rights abuse. Throughout Conde’s tenure, Guinean safety forces engaged in critical human rights abuse, together with extrajudicial killings, within the context of political protests surrounding the March 22, 2020, legislative elections and constitutional referendum.
Indonesia
Godlief Mangkak Timbul Silaen (Silaen), former police chief of the then-East Timor area and commander of Indonesia’s Safety Management Command
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Silaen for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, particularly the extrajudicial killing of civilians in East Timor (now Timor-Leste) in 1999.
Iran
Ali Akbar Javidian (Javidian), Kermanshah Province Commander of the Legislation Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (LEF)
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Javidian for his connection to critical human rights abuse. Throughout Javidian’s tenure members of the LEF used extreme drive towards protestors, leading to extrajudicial killings.
Allah Karim Azizi (Azizi), warden of Rezaee Shah Jail
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Azizi for his connection to critical human rights abuse. Throughout Azizi’s tenure, jail guards have engaged in maltreatment of prisoners, together with critical bodily abuse.
Ebrahim Kouchakzaei (Kouchakzaei), LEF commander in Chabahar, in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province
- Pursuant to E.O. 13553, which authorizes the imposition of sanctions with respect to critical human rights abuses by the Authorities of Iran, the Division of the Treasury is designating Kouchakzaei for having acted or presupposed to act for or on behalf of, instantly or not directly, Iran’s LEF. He’s the alleged perpetrator of a rape of a 15-year-old lady in mid-September 2022.
Mohammed Reza Ostad (Ostad), warden of Bushehr Jail
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Ostad for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, particularly the merciless, inhuman, or degrading therapy or punishment of prisoners.
13 Iranian authorities officers
- Pursuant to INA Part 212(a)(3)(C), the Division of State can be taking motion to impose visa restrictions on 13 present and former Iranian authorities officers who’re believed to be accountable for, or complicit in, the abuse, detention or killing of peaceable protestors or inhibiting their rights to freedom of expression or peaceable meeting, together with by censorship through a country-wide web shutdown in Iran.
Individuals’s Republic of China (PRC)
Wu Yingjie (Wu), Get together Secretary of Tibetan Autonomous Area (TAR)
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Wu for his connection to critical human rights abuse in Tibet. Because the TAR’s Get together Secretary from 2016 to October 2021, Wu directed authorities officers within the area to have interaction in “social stability” insurance policies, which led to critical human rights abuse, together with bodily abuse and arbitrary arrests and detentions.
Zhang Hongbo (Zhang), director of the Tibetan Public Safety Bureau (TPSB)
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Zhang for his connection to critical human rights abuse in Tibet. Zhang has been the director of the TPSB since 2018 by at the very least November 2022. He has labored to advance the PRC’s targets and insurance policies in Tibet as “Tibet’s police chief.” Throughout Zhang’s tenure, the TPSB engaged in critical human rights abuse, together with arbitrary detention and bodily abuse.
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Zhang for gross violations of human rights, particularly arbitrary detention of Tibetans, which additionally quantity to notably extreme violations of spiritual freedom.
Tang Yong (Tang), former deputy director of the Chongqing Space Prisons within the PRC
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Tang for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, particularly arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners, which additionally quantity to notably extreme violations of spiritual freedom.
Li Zhenyu (Li)
Zhuo Xinrong (Zhuo)
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Li and Zhuo in addition to a community of entities together with Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., Ltd. (Dalian) and Pingtan Marine Enterprise, Ltd. (Pingtan), and over 150 vessels for his or her connection to critical human rights abuse. Dalian- and Pingtan-owned and -operated vessels engaged in pressured labor, involving withheld pay, bodily violence, abusive working and dwelling circumstances, and meager meals and water, which contributed to the deaths of crew members.
Peru
José Carlos Bertarelli Rodríguez (Rodríguez), a former commander of the Ayacucho Intelligence Detachment in Peru
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Rodríguez for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, particularly torture between 1983 – 1985.
Philippines
Apollo Quiboloy (Quiboloy)
- Pursuant to E.O. 13818, the Division of the Treasury is designating Quiboloy for his connection to critical human rights abuse. Because the founding father of the Philippines-based church, Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Identify Above Each Identify (KOJC), Quiboloy took benefit of his management function throughout the KOJC to have interaction in a sample of systemic and pervasive rape and different bodily abuse involving minors as younger as 11 years outdated from 2006 to at the very least 2020.
The Russian Federation
Central Election Fee of the Russian Federation (Russia’s CEC)
- Pursuant to E.O. 14024, the Division of the Treasury is designating Russia’s CEC alongside its 15 members. In September 2022, Russia’s CEC helped oversee and monitor sham referendums held in areas of Russia-controlled Ukraine that have been rife with incidents of clear voter coercion and intimidation. Moreover, Russia’s CEC conducts and oversees federal and native elections in Russia, together with referendums. For years, Russia’s CEC has touted as clear and clear elections in Russia which were riddled with irregularities and credible accusations that the Kremlin has rigorously managed the outcomes.
Lyudmila Nikolaevna Zaitseva (Zaitseva)
- Pursuant to E.O. 14024, , the Division of State is designating Zaitseva, underneath Part 1(a)(ii)(F), for being accountable for or complicit in, or having instantly or not directly engaged or tried to have interaction in, actions that undermine the peace, safety, political stability, or territorial integrity of the US, its allies, or its companions for or on behalf of, or for the advantage of, instantly or not directly, the Authorities of the Russian Federation. Zaitseva was reportedly implicated in human rights abuses towards civilians in Ukraine, particularly the kidnapping and compelled relocation of youngsters from Ukraine.
Ochur-Suge Terimovich Mongush (Mongush)
- Pursuant to E.O. 14024, the Division of State is designating Mongush, underneath Part 1(a)(vi)(B), for materially helping, sponsoring, or offering monetary, materials, or technological help for, or items or companies to or in help of any particular person whose property and pursuits in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024. Mongush was reportedly implicated in human rights abuses towards civilians in Ukraine, particularly torture.
Oleg Yuryevich Nesterov (Nesterov), Russian Federation Presidential Administration official
- Pursuant to E.O. 14024, the Division of the Treasury is designating Nesterov for being instantly concerned within the planning for and implementation of filtration factors in Russia-controlled Ukraine.
Yevgeniy Radionovich Kim (Kim), Russian Federation Presidential Administration official
- Pursuant to E.O. 14024, the Division of the Treasury is designating Kim for being instantly concerned within the planning for and implementation of filtration factors in Russia-controlled Ukraine.
Marina Konstantinovna Sereda (Sereda)
- Pursuant to E.O. 14024, the Division of the Treasury is designating Sereda for working with the so-called Donetsk Individuals’s Republic (DNR) Ministry of Inner Affairs to handle filtration factors in Russia-controlled Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
Aleksey Valentinovich Muratov (Muratov), Official of the so-called DNR
- Pursuant to E.O. 14024, the Division of the Treasury is designating Sereda for coordinating filtration level operations with so-called DNR chief Denis Pushilin. Specifically, Muratov has spearheaded the procurement of needed gear and expertise to help filtration factors in Russia-controlled Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
Sri Lanka
Prabath Bulathwatte (Bulathwatte), former head of a clandestine Sri Lankan Military platoon, often called the “Tripoli Platoon,”
- Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Bulathwatte for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, particularly torture and/or merciless, inhuman, or degrading therapy or punishment of Sri Lankan journalist, Keith Noyahr, in Could 2008.
Vietnam
- Vo Thanh Dung (Vo), former warrant officer on the Lagi Police Station Pursuant to Part 7031(c), the Division of State is designating Vo for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, particularly torture, in January 1987.
For extra details about these designations, please see the next statements: