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| Europe |
| Rome Freezes Persian Armed Forces Bank |
| 2007-04-12 |
| Tehran, 11 April (AKI) - The governor of Iran's central bank has written to his Italian counterpart to complain against last month's decision by Italian authorities to take effective control of the operations of the Rome branch of Iran's Sepah Bank which is linked to the Islamic Republic's armed forces. The Italian government's 26 March decision stemmed from a UN security council resolution, 1747, for sanctions against a list of Iranian financial institutions linked to the country's nuclear programme. The Markazi central bank's governor, Ibrahim Sheibani, in his letter to Bank of Italy govenor Mario Draghi describes both the Security Council resolution and Rome's decision as "illegal". "Our checks are bouncing all over Pyongyang!" The Sepah Bank was founded in 1925 as the cooperative bank of the Iranian armed forces. Today it boasts 1,700 branches in Iran and a dozen abroad, has become one of the most powerful financial institutions in the Islamic Republic. It also has a related group, Sepah International, based in London. It is particularly active in internationall transactions and for this reason was included in the list of Iranian companies subject to sanctions. Iranian armed forces, piracy, nuclear weapons production, ballistic missiles, international finance ... is there a connection? Most institutions in the Islamic Republic, especially military ones for their historic connection with this bank, have used Sepah's services for international transactions. Where there's smoke, there's an ayatollah with a lighter. |
| Posted by:mrp |