This month’s Red Flag Bulletin includes the following stories:
- African NGOs file corruption complaint against Bolloré SE and Vincent Bolloré in France;
- SEC begins hosting roundtables on cryptocurrency regulation; and
- Marine Le Pen found guilty of misappropriating European Parliament funds worth EUR 2.9 million.
Middle East and North Africa
Iran: US sanctions the Iranian Oil Minister and an international transportation network for Iranian-origin crude oil
On 13 March, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Mohsen Paknejad, who has been the Minister of Petroleum of Iran since August 2024. In this role, he oversees the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). According to the press release, Paknejad has allocated over 200,000 barrels of Iranian oil to the Iranian armed forces for export. OFAC designated 17 entities and 13 vessels, including: Seychelles-registered Fallon Shipping Company Limited and Bangladesh-based Aren Ship Management, the owner and manager of Iran-flagged POLARIS 1, which has transported thousands of tons of NIOC fuel. This action was the third round of sanctions targeted Iranian oil sales since the President ordered a campaign of maximum pressure on Iran in February 2025.
[Written by Haddie Hamal]
Turkey: Key Erdogan rival arrested on corruption allegations
On 19 March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival and the Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was arrested and later detained on corruption charges. On the same day, a Turkish court ordered the seizure of a construction company owned by İmamoğlu and his family. İmamoğlu’s detention came days before his party, the Republican People's Party, was expected to name him as its candidate for the 2028 presidential election. Critics are calling his arrest a coup, and as at 20 March, authorities in Turkey had reportedly detained dozens of people for their social media posts. Despite the government’s bans on gatherings, since his arrest, thousands of Turks have taken to the streets to protest İmamoğlu’s so-called undemocratic detention.
[Written by Haddie Hamal]
Europe
France: Marine Le Pen found guilty of misappropriating EUR 2.9 million worth of European Parliament funds
On 31 March, Marine Le Pen, the French politician and leader of far-right Rassemblement National (RN) political party, was found guilty in French courts of misappropriating EUR 2.9 million worth of funds from the European Parliament to finance RN’s activities. Le Pen was accused of leading a scheme involving more than 20 members of the RN in which funds intended for European Parliament assistants were diverted to pay RN party workers in France between 2004 and 2016. Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison and to a EUR 100,000 fine, and banned from standing for office in France for the next five years. While Le Pen has stated she will appeal the ruling, the sentence generates uncertainty regarding her ability to run for president in 2027. 24 other members of RN were also found guilty of embezzlement, and given a mix of fines, ineligibility bans, and prison sentences.
[Written by Esperança Pereira]
Former Soviet Union
Russia / EU: Oil trader Niels Troost challenges EU sanctions designation in court
On 2 March, business media reported that Niels Troost, a Dutch trader and the only European national to be sanctioned by the EU so far for trading Russian oil, had petitioned the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg to overturn the sanctions against him. Troost’s lawyers wrote in the submitted petition that Troost had ceased all involvement with Russian oil at least 15 months before the EU’s decision to sanction him in December 2024. They also claimed that Troost sold the ship-chartering business Livna – which was mentioned in Troost’s sanctions listing as facilitating sales of Russian oil above the G7 price cap – more than six years ago.
[Written by Viktor Seliukov]
Russia: Western companies returning to Russia will not receive special treatment
On 18 March, amidst an increase in reports that foreign companies are seeking to return to Russia, President Vladimir Putin announced that Western companies returning to the Russian market would not be offered any preferential treatment or be allowed to repurchase their Russian assets at the knock-down prices for which they sold them. Hundreds of foreign companies wound down their Russian operations after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and in some cases, Russian businesses took over their assets and market share. So far, few major Western companies have stated that they have plans in place to return to Russia, and current sanctions would complicate any return to the Russian market. Nevertheless, the Russian government is reportedly drafting new regulations for returning foreign businesses, and Russian officials have stated that foreign companies would be required to form joint ventures with Russian companies, who would have control over the ventures.
[Written by James Whittingham]
Sub-saharan Africa
Africa: African NGOs file corruption complaint against Bolloré SE and Vincent Bolloré in France
On 18 March, a group of 11 anti-corruption NGOs from Africa filed a legal complaint with the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office against Bolloré SE, the France-headquartered multinational conglomerate, and Vincent Bolloré, the former CEO and chairperson of Bolloré SE. The NGOs, which are from Togo, Guinea, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Cameroon, accused Vincent Bolloré, Bolloré SE, and its current CEO and chairperson – Cyrille Bolloré, Vincent’s son – of benefitting from corrupt activity in Africa. This was particularly in relation to port concessions in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Cameroon, which were owned by Bolloré SE until 2022, when the company sold its Africa-focused subsidiary for USD 6.1 billion. The complaint is currently under review by the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. Vincent Bolloré and Bolloré SE have not responded publicly to the complaint.
[Written by Gerhard van Niekerk]
Americas
Argentina: US sanctions former Argentine president
On 21 March, the US Department of State designated Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner, the former president of Argentina, and her Minister of Planning, Julio Miguel de Vido, for their involvement in significant corruption during her time in office. The State Department asserted that Fernández orchestrated and benefitted from multiple bribery schemes involving public contracts. Fernández served as president from 2007 to 2015 and vice president from 2019 to 2023, and in 2022, was sentenced to six years in prison in Argentina on charges of corruption. Fernández is currently appealing the sentence and remains free due to her immunity as former president and vice president.
[Written by Marcelo Guerra]
US: SEC begins hosting roundtables on cryptocurrency regulation
On 21 March, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began hosting a series of roundtables to discuss the regulation of cryptocurrency assets. The talks are meant to establish clarity around the application of US federal securities laws to the digital asset market, as well as recommend policy measures to possibly establish separate regulation for digital assets. The talks were announced in late February following the dismissal of the SEC’s civil enforcement case against Coinbase Inc, a large cryptocurrency exchange, and following years of regulatory uncertainty in cryptocurrency markets, as the SEC has previously claimed that only some digital assets can be classified as securities.
[Written by Marcelo Guerra]
