Dutch firm guilty in plan to ship aircraft parts to Iran

Washington, D.C. — Two executives of a Dutch aviation service firm admitted in a US court on Thursday their firm broke the law trying to sell sensitive aircraft components to Iran, US officials said.

Robert Kraaipoel, 66, of The Netherlands, director of Aviation Services International (ASI) and his son Robert Neils Kraaipoel, 40, the company’s sales manager, both pleaded guilty in federal court to charges they tried to illegally export aircraft components and other items from the United States to Iran via the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus.

The men violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions Regulations by exporting aircraft components and other sensitive goods to Iran without obtaining licenses from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, officials said.

The two defendants each face a possible five-years prison term and a maximum fine of USD 250,000.

ASI has agreed to pay an USD 100,000 fine and corporate probation for five years.

"This investigation demonstrates in clear terms the threat we face from the illegal foreign acquisition of US technology," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

"Keeping America’s critical technology from falling into the hands of state sponsors of terror has never been more important," he said

From about October 2005 to October 2007, the defendants received orders from customers in Iran for electronic communications equipment and aircraft parts produced in the United States, which ASI obtained by pretending they were destined for other countries, including Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates.

AFP / Expatica