Trading with Iran to bribe Israel?
I've reported on this blog before regarding the massive amounts of trade with Iran by
Germany in general, and by electronics giant
Siemens in particular. Things are so bad that at one point, then-Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz proposed
barring Israelis from investing in Siemens. It now turns out that some Israelis have made a different kind of investment in Siemens. Or rather, that
Siemens has made an investment in them (Hat Tip:
Sunlight).
The gag order was lifted today that the Israel Securities Authority
and Israel Police questioned under caution four men on suspicion of
involvement in receiving $16 million in bribes from Siemens AG (NYSE:
SI; XETRA: SIE) to rig the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22)
tender for power station turbines. The four men are former Siemens
Israel Energy and Industry Division manager Oren Aharonson; Oakfield
Ltd. owner Shlomo Daniel,
Aharonson's brother-in-law; forex trader Anton
Mitchell Dalin, an associate of Aharonson; and Haim Bar-Nir, who served
as IEC planning division deputy manager unit at the time, and recently
left the company.
Former District Court Judge Dan Cohen is already serving a six-year
sentence in the case, for taking a NIS 4 million bribe from Siemens.
Aharonson was the state's witness against the judge.
Aharonson
and his associates are suspected of being the middlemen in transferring
Siemens' $16 million bribe to Bar-Nir and Dalin, through various foreign
bank accounts. Aharonson is also suspected of obstructing the
investigation and obstruction of justice by not handing the police
information about the bribe. Aharonson and Daniel are also suspected of
being beneficiaries of the bribe through commissions they took as its
facilitators.
The bribery case in Israel is part of a worldwide scandal at Siemens involving $1.4 billion in bribes to facilitate deals.
I've discussed what makes Israelis behave so selfishly
here, among other places.
In any event, one cannot help but wonder whether there is a connection between money taken from Iran and money used to bribe Israel. Yes, Israel, because in case you've forgotten, Israel Electric Corporation is a government company.
Labels: bribes, German-Iranian trade, Israel Electric Corporation, Siemens
Israelis to be barred from investing in Siemens?
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz is preparing legislation to impose
sanctions on Iran, to declare it an enemy state and to prohibit all economic activity by Israelis with it. You mean, we haven't done this until now? Well, actually this seems to go further....
Steinitz sent a draft regulation prohibiting investment in corporations doing business with Iran to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Thursday morning.
The regulation constitutes one step in the measures approved by the Cabinet against Iran’s nuclear enrichment program on April 17, the ministry said.
The draft regulation sets the criteria for what defines a business relationship with Iran, and requires that any company found to have filled the criteria be placed on a blacklist of firms in which it is prohibited to invest.
Steinitz said of the regulation: “This is a significant step that strengthens Israel’s part in the economic sanctions against Iran, as part of the State of Israel’s commitment to the international effort to thwart Iran’s ability to develop non-conventional weapons, which will threaten the existence of Israel and the West.”
So would this bar Israelis from investing in
Siemens? That would be awesome (if probably difficult to enforce).
Labels: Iran sanctions regime, Siemens, Yuval Steinitz
Embarrassing: Siemens' business in Iran surges
Ouch.
Siemens has kept a promise not to pursue new projects in Iran. But its existing contracts there underscore how international efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions have had only limited impact on the state's ability to draw on the technology and expertise it needs to maintain its broader infrastructure.
The company's Iranian business also shows how Tehran depends on a powerful tool to maintain its commercial ties to foreign companies. The rules that govern international commerce make it tough for Siemens to sever ties with Iran even if it wanted to.
"Otherwise we could be accused of breaching contracts and face compensatory damages," Siemens CEO Peter Löscher said at the company's shareholder meeting in January.
The U.S. State Department and the European Union declined to comment on Siemens' business in Iran.
Read the whole thing.
The sanctions are having a huge effect, aren't they?
/sarc
Labels: Iran sanctions regime, Siemens
