According to a report from the United States Export Compliance Daily, Godfrey Phillips India (GPI) has been fined $332,500 by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for violating US sanctions against North Korea. OFAC states that the Indian tobacco manufacturer used a US bank to process payments for shipments to North Korea. This amounts to approximately 2.31 million yuan.
GPI, a tobacco company registered in Mumbai, India has been fined for allegedly violating US sanctions against North Korea.
According to reports, these illicit activities began in 2015 when GPI's vice president contacted a middleman working for a North Korean tobacco company based in Thailand to discuss the sale of tobacco to North Korea. As per the accusations, GPI did not include North Korea on the list but instead listed the Thai company as the client and China as the destination.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has stated that a Thai company placed an order for over 174,000 pounds (78.92 metric tons) of tobacco on behalf of North Korean clients. The agency stated that the company subsequently transferred funds to GPI through four Hong Kong intermediaries, with one payment going to a branch of a U.S. bank in India.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced that the maximum penalty for violating sanctions exceeded $1.7 million (equivalent to $11.86 million). However, the agency decided to reduce the penalty amount because the misconduct was deemed "less severe." GPI has not received any penalty notices in the past five years and has implemented remedial measures to improve its sanction compliance program, including screening procedures, customer due diligence measures, and record retention requirements. The company also cooperated with OFAC's investigation.
Reference:
Global Parts Inc. (GPI) has been fined for exporting goods to North Korea.
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