The prosecutors are in the early stages of examining a handful of Chinese banks with operations in New York. They are concerned that the banks may allow clients suspected of financing weapons development to open accounts in China, and then get access to dollars through money transfers from a foreign bank by way of its American subsidiary…
Last month, the White House announced sanctions against Bank of Kunlun, part of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., saying that the bank had “facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks.”…
Concerns about China’s connections to Iran’s weapons program came into focus in 2009 when the Manhattan district attorney’s office charged a Chinese businessman and his company with conspiring to sell tungsten, high-strength steel and exotic metals, which can be used to develop long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, to an arm of the Iranian military from 2006 to 2008. Some of the transactions were routed through Manhattan, according to court documents. At the time, prosecutors were investigating two Chinese banks to determine their roles in the scheme.
Until 2008, foreign banks were permitted to transfer money for Iran through their American subsidiaries to separate offshore institutions. Such transactions were banned in 2008 amid escalating suspicions that Iran was using its banks to finance its nuclear weapon and missile programs.
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