Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Iran Ships Released in Singapore; Loan Paid Off

The three Iranian large cargo ships, Tochal, Sahand and Sabalan, were released in Singapore minutes before they were put up for auction and after Iran posted $200 million to pay off a loan from the French bank Credit Agricole.

Singapore authorities had seized the vessels, belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), in Summer 2010. At the time, the French bank had recalled the $200 million balance on the loan because the vessels had lost their liability insurance coverage (“Blue Card”) after the insurers citing US and EU sanctions against Iran had terminated the coverage. The French bank also did not accept a new insurance policy written by Iran’s state-run insurance company for non-compliance with international maritime standards.

Iran tried unsuccessfully to stop the auctioning of the vessel in a Singapore court but at the end had to pay off the loan to release them.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

then you deal in cash, whats the problem!!

Nader Uskowi said...

Dealing in cash!

Anonymous said...

yes, meaning every Iranian embassy ina any country puts sums for such isues aside .
after a while everybody would like to do the deal that way and declare it otherwise for taxations.

Haven'nt you ever screwed the IRS ??
NO ? you liar ;)

Illuminati

David Hannaford said...

Outcome? A French bank has lost a lot of future business, and an insurance scheme which used to have a monopoly now has an ethical competitor - the government of Iran.