BNE – The Georgian government and central bank claim they are now working to prevent Iranian companies investing into the country’s banking sector, as US concern that Tehran is using Tbilisi to bypass international sanctions rises.
Speaking to journalists in the capital, National Bank of Georgia President Giorgi Kadagidze said on June 25 that the central bank has stepped up efforts to prevent Iranian companies entering the banking sector. Following increased US pressure, the central bank has blocked “attempts of several Iranian banks and individuals, associated with the Iranian authorities, to enter the banking sector of Georgia,” Kadagidze claimed.
The blocked investments reportedly include an attempt by Pasargad Bank to open a representative office in Tbilisi. The Iranian lender dropped its plan after the Georgian authorities refused to issue a licence.
The NBG now plans to look into the situation at InvestBank, which since 2011 has been controlled by three Iranian investors – Houshang Hosseinpour, Pourya Nayebi and Houshang Farsoudeh – via a Liechtenstein-based investment fund called KSN Foundation, reports the Wall Street Journal. They also recently set up airline FlyGeorgia and have established several other investments. The trio insists they have no connection to the government in Tehran.
However, they star in the nightmares of officials from Washington and Brussels, who have expressed worry that Iran is trying to use the Georgian financial system to bypass international sanctions, which have been implemented over concern that Tehran’s nuclear programme is seeking to develop arms. Iran insists the goal is purely civil.
Sanctioned Iranian energy companies and firms tied to Iran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, are among the firms that have sought to do business in Georgia, according to Iranian and Georgian officials, the Wall Street Journal reports. Two US delegations have visited Tbilisi in recent months to discuss the issue, according to both US and Georgian officials.