Office is overseeing surge of Russia-related sanctions to more than 1,400 after invasion of Ukraine
The UK’s sanctions enforcement office has been trying to introduce the “most extraordinary package of sanctions ever implemented” in UK history with a group of just 70 staff, its director has admitted.
The OFSI’s poor resourcing is in stark contrast to its US counterpart, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which operates with about 300 employees. Thomson also revealed that the OFSI, which was originally launched by former chancellor George Osborne in 2016, had not yet set up a whistleblower line and had primarily relied on self-reporting by companies involved in risky transactions to build its cases against offending firms.Details of the OFSI’s poor resourcing are likely to fuel further criticism of the effectiveness of the UK’s sanctions regime.for having issued just six fines worth a combined £21m since its founding.
“It’s been hard work,” the OFSI director told MPs. “There’s no denying that we’ve had to resource up and scale up what we do in terms of the volume and complexity pretty quickly.”
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