Sens. Push DOD To Probe ANHAM FZCO's Iran Connections
Media Source: October 28, 2013---Law360, New York -- Two
Republican senators are pressing the U.S. Department
of Defense watchdog to find out whether Anham FZCO LLC, a Dubai-based
logistics company and U.S. contractor, shipped items through a port in Iran in
order to fulfill a contract.
Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., wrote a letter to DOD Inspector General Jon T. Rymer on Tuesday, expressing their concern over reports that Anham had knowingly used Iranian ports to deliver supplies used to build a warehouse in Afghanistan for the DOD.
Anham, a longtime U.S. government contractor, has received numerous contracts to provide infrastructure support, security services, and food and water to Department of Defense customers in Afghanistan.
On Sept. 26, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company had used Iran's Bandar Abbas seaport in 2012 to land materials that were then transported across Iran to Afghanistan to build the warehouse, putting it at an advantage to win another supply contract with the Pentagon. The Journal's article prompted a spike in public interest in Anham's possible connections to Iran.
"We request that you urgently look into this matter, verify the recent public reports surrounding Anham, make recommendations on what to do with Anham's existing U.S. government contracts and propose steps to the department should take to ensure this does not happen again," the senators said in their letter to Rymer.
Bandar Abbas, Iran's main container terminal, manages over 90 percent of Iran's container operations, according to a U.S. Department of the Treasury fact sheet.
In 2011, the Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Tidewater Middle East Co., the company that manages the port of Bandar Abbas, as being owned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to the Treasury, the corps continues to be a focus of U.S. and international concern "because of the central part it plays in Iran's illicit conduct." Iran has repeatedly used Tidewater-managed ports to ship arms in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Ayotte and Kirk told Rymer that Anham executives knew that were materials were being shipped through Iran before it voluntarily disclosed them to the U.S. departments of Defense, Commerce and Treasury in September.
They asked Rymer if it would be possible to terminate Anham's contracts with the DOD, whether Task Force 2010 or U.S. Central Command had recommended any action be taken against Anham, and what actions, if any, the DOD plans to take against the contractor.
A spokeswoman for the Inspector General told Law360 on Friday that the office had received the letter and is currently reviewing the matter.
--Editing by Katherine Rautenberg.
Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., wrote a letter to DOD Inspector General Jon T. Rymer on Tuesday, expressing their concern over reports that Anham had knowingly used Iranian ports to deliver supplies used to build a warehouse in Afghanistan for the DOD.
Anham, a longtime U.S. government contractor, has received numerous contracts to provide infrastructure support, security services, and food and water to Department of Defense customers in Afghanistan.
On Sept. 26, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company had used Iran's Bandar Abbas seaport in 2012 to land materials that were then transported across Iran to Afghanistan to build the warehouse, putting it at an advantage to win another supply contract with the Pentagon. The Journal's article prompted a spike in public interest in Anham's possible connections to Iran.
"We request that you urgently look into this matter, verify the recent public reports surrounding Anham, make recommendations on what to do with Anham's existing U.S. government contracts and propose steps to the department should take to ensure this does not happen again," the senators said in their letter to Rymer.
Bandar Abbas, Iran's main container terminal, manages over 90 percent of Iran's container operations, according to a U.S. Department of the Treasury fact sheet.
In 2011, the Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Tidewater Middle East Co., the company that manages the port of Bandar Abbas, as being owned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to the Treasury, the corps continues to be a focus of U.S. and international concern "because of the central part it plays in Iran's illicit conduct." Iran has repeatedly used Tidewater-managed ports to ship arms in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Ayotte and Kirk told Rymer that Anham executives knew that were materials were being shipped through Iran before it voluntarily disclosed them to the U.S. departments of Defense, Commerce and Treasury in September.
They asked Rymer if it would be possible to terminate Anham's contracts with the DOD, whether Task Force 2010 or U.S. Central Command had recommended any action be taken against Anham, and what actions, if any, the DOD plans to take against the contractor.
A spokeswoman for the Inspector General told Law360 on Friday that the office had received the letter and is currently reviewing the matter.
--Editing by Katherine Rautenberg.
