NEWS: Fallout from ECJ decision continues as some EU nations take down public beneficial ownership registers

Regulatory Watch News

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  France: Member of organised crime convicted for fraudulently claiming CAP subsidies while in detention

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  June 18, 2026

  (Luxembourg, 18 June 2026) – An individual with ties to Corsican organised crime was convicted yesterday of aggravated subsidy fraud involving payments under the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), following an indictment by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Paris (France). The defendant had claimed those payments while he was in detention, in connection with other criminal proceedings relating to organised crime. Between 21 November 2017 and 31 December 2022, the defendant falsely declared in his applications for CAP payments that he was carrying out agricultural activities enabling him to receive such payments – despite being in prison at the time, and therefore unable to perform any agricultural activity personally. He also declared an inflated number of bovines in order to obtain coupled CAP aid, resulting in damage of €120 025 to the EU budget.

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  Three charged in NSW and SA following 320kg West African meth import

  Australia Federal Police

  June 18, 2026

  Three people in two Australian states have been charged by the AFP following a failed 320kg methamphetamine importation from West Africa. A UK woman is expected to appear before the Downing Centre Local Court today (18 June, 2026) for her alleged role in the failed import. The woman was refused bail by the court last month after being charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of border-controlled drug. An Adelaide-based couple, 30 and 32, were charged in April 2026, over their alleged involvement in the criminal venture.

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  National Security Division Announces First Declination Under the Department-wide Corporate Enforcement Policy

  US Department of Justice

  June 17, 2026

  The Justice Department announced today that it has declined the prosecution of Robert Bosch GmbH (Bosch), thereby resolving its investigation into an alleged scheme to send products and software manufactured with equipment that was the direct product of U.S. software or technology to an Entity-listed company in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This decision was reached pursuant to Part I of the Department-wide Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (CEP), after also considering the factors set forth in the Department’s Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations. Bosch promptly disclosed the misconduct to the National Security Division (NSD), fully cooperated, and timely and appropriately remediated — which qualified them for a declination under the CEP, given that aggravating circumstances were absent Bosch has agreed to disgorge the $11,430,098 in profits it made as a result of the transactions at issue — a portion of which will be credited towards the $36,184,680 fine paid in a parallel civil action by the Department of Commerce.