DHL settles claims on sanctions violations

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- German-based shipping company DHL reached a $9.45 million settlement with the U.S. government for violating Iranian, Sudanese and Syrian sanctions.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security announced DHL settled its claims concerning shipments to Iran, Sudan and Syria and for failures to maintain sufficient records.

DHL agreed to pay $9.45 million to settle the claims.

"DHL's pervasive compliance failures allowed for numerous shipments to Iran and Sudan in apparent violation of Treasury and Commerce Department regulations," said OFAC Director Adam Szubin.

OFAC claims DHL made more than 300 shipments to Iran and Sudan between August 2002 and March 2007 in violation of sanctions.

Between December 2002 and April 2006, OFAC alleges DHL failed to maintain the required records related to a variety of shipments to Iran.

OFAC regulations prohibit the shipment of a variety of goods to Iran and Sudan, while requiring a complete record of all shipments to those countries for five years.

The Treasury Department said that the descriptions of the contents of packages from the shipments mentioned in the claims were missing.

"Today's joint enforcement actions signal the U.S. government's commitment to ensuring that sanctions laws, including record-keeping requirements, are followed carefully," Szubin commented.