EU blacklists German-Iran bank for sanction evasion
BERLIN |
May 24 (Reuters) - The European Union froze the assets of a German bank on Tuesday for helping Iranian institutions evade sanctions they faced for links with Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
The Hamburg-based Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank (EIH - European-Iranian Trade Bank) was added to a list of institutions and individuals agreed a day earlier as part of an extended EU sanctions package against Iran.
"EIH has played a key role in assisting a number of Iranian banks with alternative options for completing transactions disrupted by EU sanctions targeting Iran," read the ruling, signed by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
A spokeswoman for the bank said its board was "analysing the new situation", but would not comment on how the asset freeze was being implemented or how it affected EIH.
EIH had been under close observation by the German government and was on a U.S. blacklist for facilitating billions of dollars of transactions with firms under sanctions for aiding Iran's nuclear or missile programmes.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Tehran for refusing to freeze its uranium enrichment programme, which Western powers suspect is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy needs.
The EU ruling now freezes the EIH bank's accounts and bars it from business in the 27-member bloc for its alleged role in facilitating transactions for banks already under sanctions.
"As of October 2010, EIH was continuing to act as a conduit for payments by sanctioned Iranian banks, including Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat," it said.
The ruling added sanctioned banks made their payments to EIH via its largest shareholder, Iran's Bank of Industry and Mine, a state institution which has also been blacklisted by the United States. [ID:nN17174704] (Reporting by Brian Rohan; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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