The US Department of Justice. Photo: Wiki Commons.

JNS.org – The US Justice Department announced on Tuesday an eight-count indictment of an Indonesian businessman and three Indonesian-based companies for violating US sanctions against Iran.

Sunarko Kuntjoro, 68, PT MS Aero Support (PTMS), PT Kandiyasa Energi Utama (PTKEU) and PT Antasena Kreasi (PTAK) were charged with conspiracy to unlawfully export US-origin goods and technology to Iran, as well as to defraud the United States.

Kuntjoro and PTMS also face charges for unlawful export and attempted export to an embargoed country, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and false statements.

The US-origin goods were destined for Iranian aviation airline Mahan Air.

The defendants plotted financially profit for themselves and other conspirators, and to evade export regulations, prohibitions and licensing requirements of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, the Export Administration Regulations and the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, according to the indictment.

Mahan Air was already sanctioned last week by the United States for providing financial, material and technological assistance to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force.

According to the indictment, between March 2011 and July 2018, Kuntjoro, the majority owner and president director of PTMS, colluded with Mahan Air; Mustafa Oveici, an Iranian executive for Mahan Air; and others, including an American person and company.

The scheme involved transporting goods owned by Mahan through PTMS, PTKEU and PTAK to the United States for repair and re-export to Mahan in Iran and elsewhere. The conspirators caused the US-origin goods to be exported from the United States without acquiring valid licenses from the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control and the US Commerce Department.

If convicted, Kuntjoro faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the charge of conspiracy to violate IEEPA and defraud the US government; a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each of the individual charges of violating IEEPA; a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on the charge of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; and a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the false statement charge.