UANI Calls on Ingersoll Rand to End Its Business in Iran
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2010
Contact: Kimmie Lipscomb, [email protected]
Phone: (212) 554-3296
UANI
Calls on Ingersoll Rand to End Its Business in
Iran
New
York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran
(UANI) today called on Ingersoll Rand to
disclose its business dealings in Iran and to sever all business ties
in Iran.
Ingersoll Rand conducts
business with Iran through its non-U.S. subsidiaries, and is a leading
manufacturer of air compressors, which are widely used in industrial
plants,
including nuclear reactors and in the oil and gas industry.
Ingersoll
Rand certifies the distribution of its products in Iran through Havacaran, an Iranian
company. The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC), a
subsidiary of
the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), states on its
website that
it uses Ingersoll Rand compression systems and air hoists.
SATCO (Sameh
Afzar Tajak Co.) is a private commercial company in Iran. SATCO identifies
Ingersoll Rand as one of seven "Principals" affiliated with SATCO for
the sale of industrial tools. The nature of these operations
brings into
question whether the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is using
Ingersoll Rand
equipment.
Given the extensive use of Ingersoll Rand equipment
in Iran, UANI calls on Ingersoll Rand to clarify the use of its
equipment in
Iran and to answer the following questions:
· What
steps does Ingersoll Rand take
within Iran's closed society to ensure that its equipment can, in no
way, be
used to support Iran's illegal nuclear program?
· Given Iran's sponsorship of terrorism,
its pursuit of
illegal nuclear weapons and its gross human rights violations, why
would
Ingersoll Rand sell its machinery into Iran, even for benign purposes?
· Do Ingersoll Rand's vows of corporate
responsibility not
apply to sponsors of terrorism?
· Does the convenience of an Ingersoll
Rand foreign
subsidiary making the sales into Iran somehow allow you a clean
conscience to
accept the profits of such sales?
UANI questions the legality of Ingersoll Rand's failure to fully
disclose the
extent of its business dealings in Iran. Such failures
deprive investors
of the transparency and accountability to which they are
entitled. UANI,
therefore, has called on Ingersoll Rand to disclose the full nature
and extent of its activities in and the inherent risks of doing
business in
Iran. In a letter to Michael W. Lamach, the CEO of Ingersoll
Rand, UANI
President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, wrote:
UANI calls on Ingersoll Rand to cease doing business in Iran.
****
We write also to call your attention
to a very serious issue
involving deficiencies in your company's public filings, specifically,
your
company's ongoing failure to disclose any of Ingersoll Rand's
activities in,
and risks of doing business with, Iran.
In the event Ingersoll Rand continues its business operations in Iran
and fails
to adequately disclose the risks of such business, UANI will pursue
appropriate
legal action against Ingersoll Rand, will call on the New York Stock
Exchange
to delist Ingersoll Rand and will assist the many Ingersoll Rand
shareholders
who oppose Ingersoll Rand's activities in Iran.
****
Ingersoll Rand's business in Iran must stop and UANI's activists are prepared to take appropriate and legal steps to ostracize Ingersoll Rand for its irresponsible actions related to its machinery sales in Iran.
Click here to read the full
text of the letter to Ingersoll Rand.
Click here to call on Ingersoll
Rand to end its dealings in Iran.
