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“Trojan Horse” inside Bahrain, facilitating more than USD 7 billion of Iranian businessAccording to Bahrain’s defence, a lookback into the bank’s historic business shows that it was used by Iran as a “Trojan horse” inside Bahrain, affording Iran “secret access” to the international monetary system in defiance of U.S. and other international sanctions intended to isolate Tehran.Specifically, the bank is alleged to have avoided sanctions against Iran, to the tune of at least USD 7 billion, by deliberately removing or changing certain identifying information when transferring money between banks—a practice known as “wire-stripping.” Bahrain asserts that the auditors detected more...

Iran's Press TV is reporting that Mahmoud Reza Khavari, the head of Bank Melli, fled to Canada after resigning for his alleged role in the embezzlement scandal Our columnist Muhammad Sahimi compiled the following news items and commentary: The Ministry of Economic and Financial Affairs announced that several senior banking officials have been sacked in the wake of the embezzlement of close to $3 billion. According to the statement by the ministry's public relations office, Mahmoud Reza Khavari (pictured), chief operating officer of Bank Melli -- Iran's largest bank -- and Farzad Ahmadi, a member of the bank's board of...

London's Terror Bank August 21, 2008 In the war on terror, the U.S. has had no greater friend than the United Kingdom. And as the U.S. economy continues to suffer under the burdens of Sarbanes-Oxley, our British friends have demonstrated a more sensible approach to financial regulation. For both of the preceding statements, however, there is an exception. Even as the U.K. stands with us in rallying the world against doing business with Tehran, an Iranian bank with a history of financing terrorism continues to operate in London. On September 8, 2006, the U.S. Treasury announced it was cutting off...

U.S. slaps sanctions on Iranian bank over missile programs (Kyodo) _ The Treasury Department said Tuesday it has cut off Iran's state-owned Bank Sepah from access to the U.S. financial system for its alleged support for developing missiles. The sanctions, issued under a presidential executive order aimed at freezing the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters, prohibit the bank's any transactions in the United States and freeze any assets it may have under U.S. jurisdiction. "Bank Sepah is the financial linchpin of Iran's missile procurement network and has actively assisted Iran's pursuit of missiles capable...

The UK-based Daily Telegraph has reported that Iranian assets are being funneled back to Teheran using financial intermediaries in Dubai. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly authorized the transfers as fears rise that Iranian financial institutions may come under European Union sanctions. The Iranian media has reported that the move caused tension between the president and the governor of Iran's central bank, Tahmaseb Mazaheri, and that Mazaheri may resign as a result. Mazaheri took over the leadership of the central bank in 2007, as he replaced outgoing governor Ibrahim Sheibani who resigned due to Ahmadinejad's moves to influence the central bank's...

London, Jan. 05 - Iran's Bank Saderat has lost a third of its foreign partners because of unilateral sanctions by the United States, the Financial Times quoted the institution’s managing director as saying on Saturday. In an interview with the Financial Times, Hamid Borhani said that of 600 foreign banks that used to do business with Bank Saderat before the U.S. imposed sanctions in September 2006, some 200 had halted their transactions. Borhani said that Middle Eastern banks were continuing contacts and becoming the institution’s top foreign partners, as sanctions shifted trade from west to east. China became Iran’s main...