‘Unfortunately, I must say that you don’t have to be a criminal mastermind to come up with a sanctions evasion or circumvention scheme… most of the time, they’re not very sophisticated’

In the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine is joined by Toms Platacis, Acting Head of Latvia’s Financial Intelligence Unit. They discuss current sanctions evasion typologies in Latvia – ranging from the sophisticated (dismantling range rovers into individual pieces and later reassembling) to the unsophisticated (smugglers violating sanctions by concealing cigarettes within timber, not realising the latter is prohibited). Toms and Justine also discuss how these risks will evolve, how sanctions can be strengthened at EU level, and what it has been like for Latvia to be on the frontlines of Russia sanctions implementation.

Toms Platacis is Latvia’s Acting Head of Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia (FIU Latvia) since June 2022. Toms previously was Deputy Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia (FIU Latvia) since January2021, and prior to this he was leading Strategic analysis and Cooperation Coordination Division responsible for implementation of the Public-Private Partnership in the FIU Latvia. Toms contributes also as an evaluator to Moneyval/FATF peer reviews. His previous professional experience relates to several law firms, including Deloitte Legal, where he specialized in financial crime prevention and participated in several large-scale projects abroad.