KUWAIT CITY, June 21, (Agencies): ABC News has reported that American Senator Mark Kirk (Republican, Illinois) has called on the US Defense Department to launch an immediate investigation to determine whether a Kuwaiti shipping company and the defense contractor, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport (KGL), is secretly doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) on which the US Treasury slapped sanctions Monday, “and if it is, to take all the necessary steps to ensure US military facilities and supply lines have not been compromised.”

“I am deeply concerned by information that suggests the US Army and Defense Logistics Agency may be contracting sensitive military logistics services to an entity tied to Iran’s primary shipping company,” Kirk said Monday.   

Members of the US Congress have for months been asking the Pentagon if KGL, which ABC News says has done more than $1 billion in business with the US military, may be secretly doing business with Iranian front companies, and those questions took fresh urgency Monday with the 317-count indictment. Among those indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr was Moghaddami Fard, an Iranian man whose name appears on dozens of emails with top KGL executives, and who sat on the five-member board of directors of a company that was partially owned by KGL.

In an email to ABC News, KGL Holding Company Chairman Dr Ali Dashti said he believes the emails have been doctored to make it appear that Fard was conspiring with KGL to hide the company’s Iranian connections.

“KGL has been the victim of a campaign to spread false and altered documents attempting to show an improper relationship between KGL and sanctioned parties. Any document indicating that Fard is or has been a representative of KGL is false. Fard represented (Combined Shipping) on the board of (a company partially owned by KGL) and has never represented KGL.” Dashti added.

Lawyers for KGL have told members of the US Congress that the company recently reorganized and, as of this month, had shed all of its ties to Iranian shipping, including its joint ownership of a company called Combined Shipping Company - where Fard served as an executive. The company that KGL partnered with in ownership of Combined Shipping has been placed on the US list of banned firms.

According to Dashti, “KGL has severed its relationship with the Combined Shipping Company. KGL divested its pre-existing 51 percent ownership in (Combined Shipping) as a direct result of the other 49 percent owner being placed on the US sanctions list.”

Dashti said KGL has taken every measure to avoid doing business with the banned Iranian firms, and added that he remains hopeful that the Congressional inquiries will not damage his company’s relations with Pentagon.

“KGL has received many awards and recommendations from the Army for its past support of overseas deployments and looks forward to continuing such support,” he said.      
KGL has received numerous lucrative logistics contracts, including one in February reported to be worth $157 million. The US government contracts have continued to flow to KGL despite a series of letters signed by members of Congress and shared with ABC News that have questioned KGL’s alleged ties to the IRISL.
Top Pentagon officials had previously told the US Congress they could find no ties between KGL and any banned Iranian firms. Some of the evidence that purports to link KGL to Fard can be found in dozens of internal company emails that were leaked to members of the US Congress earlier this year.
 Moreover, the Associated Press has quoted Vance as saying that Iran’s government-owned shipping company has been criminally charged with adopting aliases to con New York-based banks into processing $60 million in banned transactions. He disclosed IRISL and 15 associated companies and agents created an international web of corporate cloaks to send and receive payments through major New York-based banks.

Egos
In a conference call with reporters, Vance said, “IRSL and others have used alter egos to mask their misuse of the New York banking system, and nothing brings to clarity, in terms of dealing with sanctions, like the fact of a criminal indictment. Entities outside the United States need to understand that the American government and the state government will take this seriously.”
ABC News added the history of questions about KGL goes back nearly a year, as members of the US Congress have peppered the Pentagon with questions about the firm. In one letter, Representatives Brad Sherman (Democrat, California) and Ron Klein (Democrat, Florida) advised Defense Secretary Robert Gates that KGL’s own website suggested the company had been engaged in a joint venture with the Iranian state shipping company. In April, Senator Claire McCaskill (Democrat, Missouri) followed up, telling Gates: “I recently received information showing that KGL may have business interests in another Iranian company.”
“Despite these issues, McCaskill wrote, “KGL has continued to receive contracts from the government.”
On Monday, McCaskill said, “We must come down hard on this company so others realize they will pay a price for doing business with Iran. Our sanctions must have sharp teeth.”
In May, Senator Kirk followed up with another letter, this time raising concern that the company has “a history of ventures with the Iranian government.” Then last week, Sherman sent his own follow up letter, saying that despite the findings by Pentagon to date, he believed there remained cause for concern. He said he had seen records showing that a company with known ties to the Iranian shipping company had loaned money to a company partially owned by KGL to finance the purchase of two cargo ships.
“If these documents are accurate, KGL and IRISL for all intents and purposes own and operate these two vessels in partnership,” Sherman wrote.
In recent weeks, senior Pentagon officials have responded to various Congressional inquiries saying they have “found no substantial information” that would indicate that KGL has violated US sanctions against Iran.

Violators
There was “no indication that KGL Holding has violated US law,” a May 30 letter from Undersecretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter says. “Please be assured, we find it important not to award contracts to violators of federal law.”
It appears a prime source for the Congressional inquiries has been two thick binders circulating around Capitol Hill that are filled with what purport to be internal KGL emails, shipping records, and other internal company documents. It is unclear exactly where the internal documents came from, and some Congressional staffers have openly questioned whether some of the documents have been altered.
Among the documents are dozens of emails between top KGL executives and the Iranian shipping executive, Fard. In numerous emails between Fard and a top KGL executive, the two discuss the chartering of vessels, debate business tactics, and at one point appear to be agreeing on coded language that would help them avoid the US list of banned companies. This last email exchange is one of those that KGL alleges has been altered.
Also among the documents are corporate records that purport to show that Fard served until recently on the board of RAK Shipping, a company whose other board members included Dashti, who had a personal stake in RAK, and another KGL executive, because of KGL’s 18 percent stake. In addition to being among those named in the indictment handed down in New York, Fard was also added Monday to the US Treasury Department’s list of banned entities and individuals with ties to Iranian shipping.
Adam Szubin, director of the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, told reporters Monday that the Iranian shipping line has established a tangled web of shell companies with the goal of circumventing US sanctions.
“As the private sector around the world increasingly turns its back on Iran’s national shipping line, IRISL’s efforts to evade international sanctions and increased scrutiny have grown more and more desperate,” Szubin said. “The persistent attempts by IRISL to deceive the world, including through the front companies identified today, attest to the weakness of IRISL as it tries to maintain a semblance of legitimacy while supporting Iran’s proliferation activities,” he added.

Rejected
Meanwhile, Iran’s state shipping line rejected on Tuesday the latest US indictments against it, saying the move was another attempt by Washington to damage the Islamic Republic’s economy, state television reported.
“Iran’s shipping line called America’s action unfair and against international laws and regulations,” state television reported.
“Taking such actions are in fact aimed at harming an influential part of Iran’s economic infrastructure and paralysing the country’s imports and exports,” it added.
IRISL was hit with financial sanctions by the US Treasury in 2008 for its role in aiding Iran’s ballistic missile development programme. Over 30 IRISL companies were also the target of EU sanctions last month.
Such measures are part of wider efforts led by Western countries aimed mostly at forcing Tehran to curb its nuclear energy drive, which they suspect is for developing atomic bombs. Tehran says its nuclear activities have only peaceful purposes.
The US indictment, filed in state court, accused the defendants of illegally moving more than $60 million through correspondent accounts at banks in New York City from September 2008 to January 2011. Fifteen other defendants are named in the 317-count indictment.
It could be difficult for prosecutors to win convictions on the indictment, given that all those charged are outside US jurisdiction. But the charges do signal a new US effort to close off loopholes that may allow Iran to evade the sanctions.
They will also warn banks and other international concerns that any Iran-linked activities will come under closer scrutiny.
Tehran is subject to a range of United Nations, US and European Union sanctions which seek to shut it out of the global economy by targeting financial services, shipping and energy sector investments.
IRISL officials have previously rejected accusations by EU and US authorities that the company might be involved in illegal arms shipments.