PETER T. KING
Commitee oN HOMELAND SECURITY
RANKING MEMBER
239 Cannon House Ores BunoMe
"Wasiiwron, OC 20818-1203
(202) 225-7886,
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‘ON INTELLIGENCE
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December 8, 2010
M. Philippe Soulié
Chief Executive Officer, CMA CGM
4, Quai d’Arene
13235 Marseille, France
Dear Mr. Soulié:
I am writing to express my deep concern about CMA CGM’s business relationship with
the Islamic Republic of Iran and to call on CMA CGM to immediately comply with U.S., E.U.,
and U.N. sanctions and stop servicing ports in Iran, The recent discovery that Iran used a CMA
CGM ship to transport containers of weapons from Iran to Nigeria is a cleat and disturbing
violation of U.N. Security Council Sanctions.
‘As you are aware, on Tuesday, October 26, 2010, security agents discovered 13 shipping
containers of weapons in the Nigerian port of Arapa. According to news reports, the containers
had been loaded onto the MV CMA CGM Everest in Bandar Abbas in July. A release by CMA
CGM stated that the containers had been falsely declared and sealed by an Iranian businessman
who does not appear on an international list of prohibited traders. Since the initial weapons
discovery, news reports indicate that Nigeria has reported the arms shipment to the U.N. Security
Council for breaching UN. sanctions on Iran, In addition, Azim Adhajani ~ a member of Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) working in Nigeria — was charged in Nigerian court with
importing prohibited weaponry and with conspiring to re-export the illegal shipment to Banjul,
Gambia. The IRGC was designated by the U.S. Government as a “specially designated global
terrorist” in 2007.
| appreciate that CMA CGM has taken steps to seek compliance with U.S., E.U,, and
UN, sanotions against Iran, but as current events make clear, the Islamic Republic’s duplicitous
nature makes it nearly impossible for any shipper to guarantee that it is not in violation of these
sanctions, CMA CGM attempted to address this by requiring a Letter of Indemnity (LOI) for
items being shipped to Iran, Unfortunately, the LOI initiative does nothing to address shipments
from Iran. The Iranian regime does not only seek to import materials banned by internationalsanctions, but also to export illegal weapons and materials to friendly regimes and terrorist
proxies throughout the region, Furthermore, companies shipping illegal materials to Iran are
likely to sign a LOL and then ignore its stipulations.
The United States Congress is committed to isolating Iran in order to prevent it from
acquiring nuclear weapons, Shipping companies that tum a blind eye and allow themselves to
violate sanctions run the risk of facing severe penalties in the U.S. Many international
businesses are simply unable to distinguish between Iran’s legitimate and illicit transactions and
have opted to cut off Iran entirely.
1 appreciate your immediate attention on this matter and look forward to working with
you in the future to institute international regulations to prevent Iran from skirting international
sanctions and prevent Iran ftom deceiving international companies into violating the law.
Sincerely,
PETER T. KING
Member of Congress