International Business Times, UK Edition
Aug 21 2012
Iran Accused of Looking to Armenia for Bank Partners to Dodge Sanctions
By Lianna Brinded
Iran is allegedly looking to expand its banking activities with
Armenia in a bid to circumvent the sanctions that are blocking
international banks from doing business with the Islamic state and
fund nuclear development.
A Reuters article, which cites diplomats and documents, asserts that
Iran is attempting to augment its existing trade links with Armenia in
a bid to “deceive Western intelligence agencies trying to prevent it
from expanding its nuclear and missile programmes”.
The article cites a Western intelligence report, dated May 2012, which
claimed Iran was seeking fresh locations for banking partnerships away
from the scrutiny of spies and regulators. The report cited Armenia as
a key target.
“The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has been operating for years to
establish and develop concealed infrastructures to enable Iran to
continue trading with foreign countries,” the article said.
“The increasing pressure on the banks has forced CBI economists to
seek financial alternatives in countries that do not work according to
the dictates of the West.”
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Armenia and Iran already enjoy a strong relationship. Armenia has
announced that it will send around $139,000 in humanitarian aid to
Iran and offer further assistance if necessary.
Armenia’s government has drawn up a law that will provide tax
exemption for an electricity supply line to Iran.
However Stephan Gishian, chief executive of key Armenian bank ACBA –
cited as a key target for Iran in the Western intelligence report –
said: “We finance exclusively the economy of Armenia. We don’t have
any relationship with Iran. We never have, we don’t now and
furthermore we don’t plan on becoming a channel for financing Iran.
What you’re saying is complete nonsense.”
Stringent sanctions
Iran is the subject of stringent sanctions by several countries,
notably the US, and a number of international banks have been
investigated for allegedly dealing with Tehran in defiance of the
restrictions.
Standard Chartered revealed this month that it will pay a civil
penalty of $340m to the New York State Department of Financial
Services (DFS), in order to settle the regulator’s charges that it hid
at least a quarter of a trillion US dollars’ worth of transactions to
Iran.
Meanwhile, Lloyds and Barclays have been fined a combined total of
almost $650m for engaging in “wire stripping” – concealing the
identity of foreign clients in a number of countries, including Iran,
by forging wire payment records.
In an interview with IBTimes UK, Stuart Miller, who has experience
with the United Nations money-laundering sanctions list and the UK and
EU regulatory environment, explained how difficult it has become for
Iran to fund itself.
Miller, managing partner at law firm Miller Rosenfalck, said: “It is
pretty clear, with the US, EU and UN Iran sanctions, coupled with
international bilateral agreements and agreements between others such
as the Commonwealth countries, that much of the world is looking to
isolate Iran.”
Referring to specific financial restrictions, Miller added: “The US
has imposed its own sanctions on Iran, restricting virtually any kind
of financial or political activity with certain countries, even down
to individuals and companies.
“Last year, the US even implemented a ban of US parties trading with
Tidewater Middle East Co and Iran Air, as well as Iran’s Revolutionary
Guard Corp. In February 2012, the US went even further and banned
activities with Iran’s Central Bank.”
From: A. Papazian
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/375725/20120821/iran-armenia-standard-chartered-hsbc.htm