A Reuters divulga hoje reportagem exclusiva que mostra que o Irã está usando bancos chineses para repassar dinheiro para empresas do grupo Quds, que realiza operações terroristas pelo mundo.
É o velho uso de empresas fantasmas para transferir dinheiro para operações escusas, neste caso terrorismo.Vejamos parte do que diz a Reuters:
Exclusive: Iran uses China bank to transfer funds to Quds-linked companies – report
There is no trace of
Shenzhen Lanhao Days Electronic Technology Co Ltd at its listed address in the
beige and pink-tiled "Fragrant Villa" apartment complex in this
southern Chinese city. The building's managers say they’ve never heard of it.
But
a Western intelligence report reviewed by Reuters says Shenzhen Lanhao is one
of several companies in China that receives money from Iran through a Chinese
bank. Such transfers help to finance international operations of
the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' elite Quds Force, the report
said.
The Quds provides
arms, aid and training for pro-Iranian militant groups in the Middle East, such
as Hezbollah, Hamas and Shi'ite Muslim militias in Iraq. They have also
armed and trained government forces in Syria's civil war in violation of a
U.N. arms embargo, U.S. and European officials say.
Washington
designated the Quds a supporter of terrorism in 2007. The European Union
sanctioned them in 2011.
The
report said that the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) holds accounts with the Bank
of Kunlun Co Ltd, a China National Petroleum Corp unit. Quds-controlled
Iranian companies, including one called Bamdad Capital Development Co, initiate
transfers from these accounts to either Chinese entities directly
controlled by the Quds or to Chinese entities owed money by the Quds, such as
Shenzhen Lanhao.
"The money
transfers from accounts held by the CBI with Bank Kunlun are initiated by the
Quds Force and transferred to Chinese companies connected to the Quds Force in
order to meet its financial needs," the seven-page report
said. Reuters could not independently verify the claims in the report.
The suspected
movement of Iranian funds linked to the Quds Force through a Chinese bank
and Chinese companies is a reminder of the difficulty of enforcing sanctions on
Iran at a time when the United States and other world powers hope to clinch a
nuclear deal with Tehran by Nov. 24.
BEIJING
PICKED KUNLUN
The
exact amount of money the Quds could have received from the Kunlun channel is
unclear. But the sums flowing from the Iranian central bank to Kunlun over the
past year have been in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the report
said.
As Western sanctions
tightened on Iran in 2012, Beijing picked Kunlun as its main bank to process
billions of dollars in oil payments to Iran, shielding other banks from
penalties. Kunlun had assets of 246.5 billion yuan ($40 billion) at the
end of 2013, according to its annual report.
Officials at Kunlun did not respond to
Reuters requests for comment, nor did CNPC, China's biggest oil and gas
company.
The Chinese government said China's
trade relations with Iran and other countries do not violate international
laws.
"China maintains normal trade
relations with relevant countries, including Iran," Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement in response to queries from Reuters.
"This does not violate any international law or (U.N.) Security Council resolution,
and does not harm the interests of other countries or the international
community."
Iran’s U.N. mission declined to comment.
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