Compliance Bulletin - April 2024

Please find below a few developments in compliance in Turkey and around the world in April :)

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• OneCoin Compliance Manager Sentenced to Four Years In Prison

Irina Dilkinska, OneCoin's former head of legal and compliance, was sentenced to four years in prison for creating shell companies to help launder at least $4 billion by convincing people in a cryptocurrency marketing scheme to invest in OneCoin. In addition to the prison sentence, Dilkinska was sentenced to one month of supervised release and ordered to pay $111,440,000 in restitution.

• SCG Fines SCG $20 MIllIon for VIolatIng Iran Sanctions

Recently, the US announced new sanctions targeting Iran's drone production following its attack on Israel. SCG Plastics, which conducted sales of high-density polyethylene resin to Iran through US banks from 2017 to 2018, was fined $20 million after OFAC found 467 violations of Iran sanctions for practices that concealed the Iranian origin of the product and the involvement of Iranian parties. Although SCG Plastics is no longer in business, the agreement between OFAC and its parent company did not exempt it from liability for sanctions violations.

• Online Portal for NotIfIcatIons of Non-Competition In Health

The DOJ, FTC, and the Department of Health and Social Services have launched an online portal for individuals to submit reports to promote competition and fair trade in health care in the United States. The portal allows individuals to report potentially unfair and anticompetitive practices to regulatory agencies. Launched on April 18, the portal aims to provide more and faster information to prevent illegal business practices that harm consumers and workers. 

• Administrative Fines to Pharmaceutical Companies by the Turkish Competition Authority

Within the scope of the investigation initiated in November, the Competition Board decided that Abdi İbrahim İlaç Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. and GlaxoSmithKline İlaçları Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. had harmed competition as a result of violation of Article 4 of the Law due to gentleman's agreements in the labor market and exchange of sensitive information between competitors. Within the scope of the decision, Abdi İbrahim İlaç and GlaxoSmithKline İlaçları were imposed administrative fines amounting to approximately TRY 184.4 million and TRY 33.4 million, respectively. According to the Board's statement, the case was finalized with a settlement between the undertakings. 

• TITCK Updates Guideline on Supply of Medicines from Abroad

The Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (“TİTCK”) has updated the “Guideline on Procurement of Pharmaceuticals from Abroad”. According to the new amendments, the “Pharmaceutical Supply Planning Committee” will now be referred to as the “Pharmaceutical Supply Planning Commission”. In addition, Article 5 titled “Initial Drug Application and Evaluation” and Articles 13 and 16 regulating the supply and drug list within the scope of medicines procurement from abroad have been amended. Finally, the templates in the annex of the guideline have been revised.

TITCK Updates Guideline on Supply of Medicines from Abroad