April 1, 2014 | Quote
Georgia Bank with Ties to Alleged Sanctions Busters Changes Ownership Again
A Georgian bank recently investigated by U.S. officials for alleged sanctions busting is under new ownership for the second time in a year, documents show.
According to a March 24 statement posted on the company’s Web site, Alexander Kurtanidze, described by one Tblisi-based consulting business as a “Georgian businessman living abroad,” now owns a 70 percent stake in JSC Investbank. Kurtanidze takes over the stake from previous shareholders Dimitri Aleksidze and Vladimer Gabrielashvili, partners in a local firm.
Kurtanidze’s purchase comes only nine months after Aleksidze and Gabrielashvili bought the 70 percent controlling interest once held by KSN Foundation, a Liechtenstein-based company accused by the United States in February of serving as a front for blacklisted Iranian banks, including Bank Melli, Mir Business Bank, Bank Saderat and Bank Tejarat.
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Taken altogether, the “opacity” of the bank’s ownership structure “has to raise questions” over the nature of its current operations, according to Emanuel Ottolenghi, a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and author of The Pasdaran: Inside Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.