Connect with us

    Hi, what are you looking for?

    World

    British American Tobacco to pay US authorities $635m for selling cigarettes to North Korea

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

    British American Tobacco (BAT) had been ordered to pay $635m (£512m) plus interest to US authorities after a subsidiary admitted selling cigarettes to North Korea in violation of United Nations sanctions.

    The US has imposed severe sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile activities.

    The Department Of Justice said BAT had also conspired to defraud financial institutions in order to get them to process transactions on behalf of North Korean entities.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is known to be a heavy smoker. Last year the US attempted to get the UN Security Council to ban tobacco exports to North Korea, but this was vetoed by Russia and China.

    British American Tobacco to pay US authorities $635m for selling cigarettes to North Korea

    Tuesday’s settlement was between BAT and America’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

    The US authorities said the settlement related to BAT activity in North Korea between 2007 and 2017.

    BAT’s head Jack Bowles said “we deeply regret the misconduct”.

    BAT is one of the world’s largest tobacco multinationals. It owns major cigarette brands including Lucky Strike, Dunhill and Pall Mall.

    In a statement, BAT said it had entered into a “deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ and a civil settlement agreement with OFAC, and an indirect BAT subsidiary in Singapore has entered into a plea agreement with DOJ”.

    At a briefing on Tuesday, April 25, the DOJ’s assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said the settlement was the “culmination of a long-running investigation”, describing it as “the single largest North Korean sanctions penalty in the history of the Department of Justice”.

    He said that BAT was engaged in an “elaborate scheme to circumvent US sanctions and sell tobacco products to North Korea” via subsidiaries.

    “Between 2007 and 2017 these third-party companies sold tobacco products to North Korea and received approximately $428m.”

    Criminal charges were also revealed against North Korean banker Sim Hyon-Sop, 39, and Chinese facilitators Qin Guoming, 60, and Han Linlin, 41, for facilitating sales of tobacco to North Korea.

    A $5m (£4.4m) bounty was put for any information leading to the arrest or conviction of Mr Sim, and $500,000 (£402,905) rewards for each of the other two suspects.

    They were accused of buying leaf tobacco for North Korean state-owned cigarette makers and falsifying documents to trick US banks into processing transactions worth $74m. North Korean manufacturers including one owned by the military made about $700m thanks to these deals.

    Spread the love
    Click to comment

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    ad

    You May Also Like

    News

    The United States has reversed its visa restrictions on Ghana after the West African country agreed to accept west Africans deported by the United...

    Oil and Gas

    The industrial dispute between the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria took a dramatic turn on...

    E-Financial

    Shareholders of Unity Bank Plc have approved the proposed merger with Providus Bank Limited, marking a major milestone in the business combination of the...

    World

    Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel didn’t hold back in mocking President Donald Trump after Trump claimed he was the target of “triple sabotage” during his...