Sojitz’s Hong Kong subsidiary agreed to pay US$5.2mn to settle allegations by the US sanctions enforcement agency, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), that it routed payments for Iranian-origin high-density polyethylene resin (HDPE) through US financial institutions. The material is used in plastics production.
A settlement notice published by OFAC on January 11 says that “employees acting contrary to companywide policies and procedures” purchased 64,000 tons of Iranian HDPE from an unnamed supplier in Thailand, which were then shipped to Sojitz’s buyers in China.
Between 2016 and 2018 Sojitz transferred US$75.6mn from its Hong Kong bank to the supplier’s bank in Thailand as payment for the goods, according to OFAC’s notice. Neither financial institution is named in the document.
OFAC says the Sojitz trade transactions violated a section of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations that prohibit payments that “evade or avoid” sanctions.