Tehran, Iran, August 11
By Mehdi Sepahvand –- Trend:
Iran has denied any relations between recent banking problems with China and a set of sanctions recently imposed on the Islamic Republic by the United States.
“The government of China has recently changed its internal laws, intensifying its baking inspection measures in order to provide more transparency and fight money laundering,” Iranian Ambassador to China Ali Asqar Khaji told IRNA news agency August 11.
There have been reports that the accounts of some Iranians in China have been blocked. The issue has hit Iran’s petrochemical sector hardest because China is the biggest imported of Iranian petrochemicals. Iranian petrochemical exporters have not been able to receive the money they should have been given in return for their exports from Chinese partners over the past few months.
“These restrictions have nothing to do with recent US sanctions on Iran,” Khaji asserted.
US Senate and Treasury Department have imposed new sanctions against the Islamic Republic and several Iranian companies and individuals in recent months.
Mehdi Sharifi Niknafas, the head of Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company, in May said that China has adopted strict anti-money laundering policies that cause difficulties in transferring the money generated through Iran’s export of petrochemicals there.
According to the official, about 40 percent of Iran’s petrochemical exports go to China. The Middle Eastern nation’s total exports of petrochemicals over the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 20, 2017) amounted to 20.4 million tons.
Now months into the lingering problem, an “informed source from the trade chamber” (no mention whether it is Tehran Chamber or Iran Chamber of commerce) told Iran Labor News Agency on August 9 that “the closure of three Iranian accounts with Chinese banks are related to anti-money laundering laws.”
“Petrochemical companies are the real cause of the problem,” the news agency quoted the source has saying.
The source further explained that “Some petrochemical companies used to send goods from Iran while their bills of loading were sent from Persian Gulf littoral states such as [the UAE] or Oman. Then, when they wanted to transfer the money to Iran, documents would show that the goods had been sent from Dubai for example, whereas the money should go to Iran. And this is against banking regulations.”