ANHAM, Defense Food Contractor To US Soldiers In Afghanistan Suspected Of Violating Iran Sanctions

Online, September 25, 2013 (Newswire.com) - According to the Wall Street Journal and Fox News, Anham, a Northern Virginia defense logistics firm, that holds the multibillion-dollar Pentagon contract to supply U.S. forces in Afghanistan with food and water brought in supplies to build an Afghan warehouse through Iran, in a possible violation of U.S. sanctions.

The reports alleg that Anham FZCO used Iran's Bandar Abbas seaport last year to land equipment and building materials that were then transported across Iran, according to business executives involved in the process and corporate emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Completing the warehouse at Bagram military base near Kabul put Anham in position to win the Pentagon supply contract, which it did in June 2012. Anham, which the Journal asked about the matter about two weeks ago, said in a statement on Sunday that it "has made a voluntary disclosure to the Treasury and Commerce Departments that some items were transshipped through Iran

Anham FZCO, which has a multi-billion dollar supply contract, unloaded building materials and equipment at Iran's Bandar Abbas seaport last year and then transported them across the country, reports The Wall Street Journal. Completing the warehouse at Bagram Air Field near Kabul helped Anham to win the estimated $8.1 billion contract in June 2012, according to the newspaper.

Anham told the Journal in a statement that it "has made a voluntary disclosure to the Treasury and Commerce Departments that some items were transshipped through Iran" and that it only became aware in the past week that one of its subcontractors was using the Iran route.

But according to Fox News, which reviewed internal corporate emails and trucking manifests, that is not the case. A senior vice president based at Anham's offices in Vienna, Va., was included on the email distribution list and approved the Iran routing, reports the network. Anham, which also has offices in Dubai and Kabul, is owned by a consortium of companies from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the U.S., according to its website.

Documents show allegedly that Anham (www.anham.com), the company working under a $8 billion contract for the U.S. Department of Defense, shipped goods used to support US troops in Afghanistan through Iran over the past year in a clear and egregious violation of U.S. law prohibiting any trade or financial transactions with Iran and other countries designated as supporting terrorism. The documents include the shipment records, indicating that the materials passed through Bandar Abas, Iran on their way from Dubai to the Anham warehouse outside the U.S. military base in Bagram, Afghanistan.

Anham is a contracting company created by the principals of the Arab Supply and Trading Company ("ASTRA") of Saudi Arabia; GMS Holdings (a principal founder of Munir Sukhtian International) of Amman, Jordan; and HII-Finance Corporation of Vienna, Virginia. Anham's CEO and Chairman US citizen Abul Huda Farouki is the owner of HII-Finance

Anham, at the time of its illegal transiting of materials through Iran, held multiple contracts with the U.S. government, including the SPV for Iraq and several USG contracts in Afghanistan. (http://www.anham.com/contracts.aspx). As the attached documents indicate, Anham used Iran as the transit country for all building materials (steel, panels, etc.) and mechanical warehouse handling equipment that could not be sourced in Afghanistan. Anham also used Iran as the transit country for trucks intended for its National Afghan Trucking contract with the U.S. Military

The Treasury Department told the Journal that it doesn't comment on specific companies but that U.S. law generally bars American citizens and Pentagon contractors from shipping goods through Iran. "We have requested additional information from Anham, as well as appropriate government agencies, to confirm that Anham's actions, including its performance under its contract with [the Defense Logistics Agency] remain in accordance with applicable law and regulations," the Defense Department told the newspaper.

It's not the first time Anham has come under scrutiny for its work with the Pentagon. In 2011, even before it was awarded the Afghanistan contract, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen said that Anham overbilled the Pentagon by at least $4.4 million for spare parts.

An audit "found weak oversight in multiple areas that left the government vulnerable to improper overcharges," Bowen wrote in the forward to his quarterly report, released in 2011. Among the "egregious examples of overbilling" by Anham were $900 for an electronic control switch valued at $7.05 and $4,500 for a circuit breaker valued at $184.30.