US and UK regulators investigate British American Tobacco

British American Tobacco (BAT) is currently the subject of several investigations. One is being conducted by the US judicial authorities (DoJ, Department of Justice) and the (OFAC) Office of Foreign Assets Control, an office of foreign assets controls which depends on the US Treasury. It concerns non-compliance with the rules arising from the sanctions applied against countries, in particular Iran and Cuba. The infringement of these rules exposes the company to significant financial risks. British American Tobacco's annual report for 2019 reports on the group's activities in countries subject to sanctions, in particular Iran and Cuba. The Times of April 14, which reports these facts, underlines that the value of the company's shares fell by more than 5% following this announcement of an investigation. Another procedure is also underway against the manufacturer. It is initiated by the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the equivalent of the fraud prevention service. It concerns a suspicion of "corruption in the conduct of business by group companies and associated persons". It is possible that this investigation was at the origin of the investigations initiated in the United States. The manufacturer, informed of the procedures in progress since last year, indicated in its 2019 annual report[1] not being able to assess the amount of the provision to be made in relation to the value of the fines, sanctions and other consequences. The tobacco manufacturer has already been the subject of investigations into serious criminal practices by various authorities around the world. The manufacturer is also very regularly convicted by criminal courts, particularly in France, for violation of smoking prevention legislation. ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] https://www.bat.com/annualreport ©National Committee Against Smoking |