Fuel Inspection Service Violates Iranian Sanctions

The Office of Foreign Assets Control announced on March 21, 2013, that Maritech Commercial Inc. agreed to pay $20,800 to settle its potential civil liability for violations of the Iranian economic sanctions. Those sanctions, among other things, prohibit transactions involving entities on the Specially Designated Nationals List. Between April 2009 and June 2010, Maritech provided fuel inspection services for five vessels on the SDN List that were affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. Before Maritech provided fuel inspection services to the vessels, Iran Shipping Lines had changed the vessel names in an apparent attempt to evade the sanctions. OFAC still found that Maritech was accountable for the violations because the vessels remained identifiable by their unique International Maritime Organization numbers. The settlement reflected, among other things, the fact that Maritech did not have a sanctions compliance program prior to the violations.

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