BIS Imposes Penalties on UAE Company and Its Senior Officials for Violating the EAR and Making False Statements to Senior BIS Official
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has entered into settlement agreements with Uni-Arab Engineering and Oil Field Services (Uni-Arab) of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and two of its senior officials for committing multiple violations of the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR), several of which related to making false statements to a senior BIS official.
BIS imposed a $55,000 civil penalty and denial of export privileges on Jamie Radi Mustafa, Uni-Arab's Assistant Managing Director for committing six violations of the EAR. The settlement agreement specifies that Mr. Mustafa violated the EAR by participating in a transaction concerning the export of oil field parts from the U.S. to Dubai from an oil field equipment broker located in the U.S. that was subject to a denial order. The settlement agreement also stated that Mr. Mustafa committed four violations of 15 CFR 764.2(g) by making false statement to the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement in the course of a BIS Administrative Enforcement Proceeding. During the proceeding, Mr. Mustafa represented to the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement that he had not had any direct or indirect intentional dealings with Libya, or any other countries subject to U.S. sanctions. Those statements were not correct as BIS had information showing that Mr. Mustafa had, on more than one occasion, participated in transactions involving the sale of items subject to the Regulations to a petrochemical company in Libya.
BIS also imposed a $20,000 civil and denial of export privileges on Nureddin Shariff Sehweil, Uni-Arab's Managing Director, for violating the EAR. The settlement agreement states that Mr. Sehweil violated 15 CFR 764.2(g) by making false statements to the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement in the course of a BIS Administrative Enforcement. According to the settlement agreement, Mr. Sehweil represented to the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement that Uni-Arab, of which Sehweil was Managing Director, had not had any direct or indirect dealings with countries under U.S. embargo restrictions in connection with merchandise that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction. Those statements were not correct since BIS had information showing that Uni-Arab had, on more than one occasion, participated in transactions involving the sale of U.S. products to a petrochemical company in Libya.
Finally, BIS assessed a $95,000 civil penalty and a denial of export privileges on Uni-Arab for the violations committed by its employees.
The charging letters, settlement agreements and orders in these cases can be found at the following link: http://efoia.bis.doc.gov/ExportControlViolations/TOCExportViolations.htm.
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