(Bloomberg) -- The UK’s sanctions enforcement agency said it has identified cases where falsified documents are being used to evade a Group of Seven price cap on Russian oil exports.
Fake certificates of origin are being used to make shipments of Russian fuel appear as though they come from locations that aren’t subject to sanctions, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in an advisory on Thursday. It didn’t elaborate on specific cases.
Under a policy imposed by Britain and its allies in the G-7, traders can buy Russian oil as long as it’s below a certain price. If it exceeds the cap, then Western companies can’t provide services such as insurance and shipping.
Over the past year, both the UK and Washington have sanctioned a number of vessels and companies for breaching the price cap. However, large volumes of Russian oil have continued to flow irrespective of the price of oil, amid persistent efforts to circumvent the rules.
The UK and its allies published a series of guidelines on how to comply with price-cap measures in recent weeks. Thursday’s advisory is a sign that governments are looking beyond the attestation documents they initially require in order to comply with the cap.
In the advisory, the OFSI said that local authorities should be the ones to issue certificates of origin, rather than private companies, otherwise they may prove to be fraudulent.
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