UANI

"SHIPOWNER Victor Restis has categorically denied that he or his family group are involved in any illicit business dealings with Iran after US lobby United Against Nuclear Iran aired allegations to that effect late on Monday. UANI’s focus fell mainly on a proposed scheme to use a small bank formerly controlled by the Restis family as a conduit for 'billions' of Iranian funds. The advocacy group’s chief executive Mark Wallace late on Monday wrote to Mr Restis as non-executive chairman of First Business Bank, an already-defunct capacity after the bank was absorbed by the National Bank of Greece over the weekend and effectively ceased to exist. UANI cited a letter of more than one year ago from Dimitris Cambis, a Greek shipping executive whose companies have recently been blacklisted by the US Department of the Treasury, addressed primarily to the then-chief executive of FB Bank, Christos Kazantzis... A second document referred to by UANI, a copy of which has also been seen by Lloyd’s List, appears to present a draft consultancy agreement for an intermediary in the project, Concept Consultancy, and is dated the same day - April 25, 2012... 'I have not seen any letter, but we will write to UANI as soon as we do,' he said... UANI, which pressures companies to help isolate Iran, mentioned the group’s main shipping entity, Enterprises Shipping & Trading, only briefly. Without mentioning the source for its concern, it merely said: 'UANI has been informed that EST-managed ships are very likely being used by Iran to illegally transport its oil.'... Mr Wallace was said by UANI to be travelling on Tuesday, but press spokesman Nathan Carleton declined to say whether or not the demise of the bank automatically addressed the group’s worries. 'We have been doing this for the last five years and when we write to people asking them to stop [doing illicit business with Iran] they often thank us, and that is often true when there has been a merger or a new parent company. 'They thank you for making them aware of this,' he said." 

"The withdrawal of international accounting firms from Iran will have an enormous impact on the country's foreign trade. Expert in economics Mehrad Emadi said that such a move will affect large industrial and commercial companies that are still present in the Iranian market. The international companies Grant Thornton, RSM and Crowe Horwath have recently announced that they are pulling out of Iran, creating further difficulties for foreign companies still operating in the country... According to a lobby group United Against Nuclear Iran, Iranian member and correspondent accounting firms benefit immensely from membership in these brand name accounting networks and associations. The member firms receive training, multinational business opportunities, global expertise and access to a referral network and specialized technical manuals. The presence of these branded accounting firms in Iran also lends a sense of security to multinational businesses that partner with Iranian entities and masks the serious fiduciary and reputational risks that most responsible businesses would otherwise refuse to accept... 'It sends an important message when accountancy firms decide that it is too risky to do business in Iran,' said Mark Wallace, the head of United Against Nuclear Iran lobby group. 'Without respected auditors, it makes it much harder for other international companies to continue doing business there,' he said, Financial Times reported. The latest withdrawals come as influential members of Congress are calling for even tougher sanctions to be placed on Iran after the latest round of talks between Tehran and international powers over its nuclear programme broke up without any apparent breakthroughs. Over the past eighteen months, Congress has passed a series of new sanctions on Iran that has targeted its financial sector and energy companies." 

"Grant Thornton and two other accounting firms are pulling out of Iran, creating further difficulties for foreign companies still operating in the country. RSM, a UK-based firm, and Crowe Horwath of the US have joined Grant Thornton, one of the second-tier international accountancy firms, in leaving Iran after coming under US political pressure. The firms are the latest in a long list of international businesses which have left Iran in recent years amid strict economic sanctions that have been imposed on Tehran in an effort to influence its nuclear programme. For the campaigners who are trying to squeeze the Iranian economy, internationally-respected auditors are an important target because they provide the sort of independent scrutiny that some multinationals require in order to maintain operations in foreign countries. The 'big four' accounting firms pulled out of Iran in 2010. 'It sends an important message when accountancy firms decide that it is too risky to do business in Iran,' said Mark Wallace, the head of United Against Nuclear Iran, a lobby group. 'Without respected auditors, it makes it much harder for other international companies to continue doing business there.'"

"Iran is engaged in an elaborate oil smuggling scheme that enables it to skirt international sanctions as it transmits valuable crude oil to China, according to an investigation released last week by a watchdog group.Iranian ships have been travelling out of the country’s Kharg Island oil export terminal, making their way east of the Strait of Hormuz, then shutting down communication devices in order to mask their activities, according to United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which recently concluded a detailed investigation into Iran’s sanctions-busting behaviors. UANI discovered Iranian ships are illicitly offloading their crude oil at sea, falsely billing it as a legal product, and shipping it to China, which is the top purchaser of Iranian crude oil."