UPDATE: FBI visits Vinmar office over Iran claims

21 June 2007 17:47  [Source: ICIS news]

(Updates with Vinmar comment in paragraph 7, details in graphs 8-10)

By Salmon Aidan Lee

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) visited Vinmar International's Houston head office this week after claims that it had business links with Iran, a company source said on Thursday.

The source told ICIS news that operations at the company had not been affected.

"We were told the [FBI] came to the office earlier in the day, but left within half a day. Apparently, the [FBI] wanted to know whether our company had any dealings with some Iranian companies, which could be against US laws," said the source, who works at one of Vinmar's Asian offices.

The source could not say if anything arose from the visit but added that operations in all their offices were "as per normal".

"There were no special instructions from our headquarters relating to [the FBI visit]," the source said.

The FBI declined to comment, citing standard bureau practice of not confirming or denying the existence of any ongoing investigation.

“We’ve been advised not to comment,” Kevin Page, the VP of Human Resources for Vinmar in Houston said on Wednesday, and declined further comment.

No unsealed federal search warrants were filed in the district of Vinmar’s headquarters during the period from 14-21 June, according to a records search.

During the same period however, five sealed warrants were filed in the Houston office of the southern Texas district of the US District Court.

Lawmakers in the US must show probable cause to magistrates to obtain a warrant, but sealed documents do not name parties to the investigation nor do they provide any details.

Vinmar is a trading house founded in the US in 1978 to market polymers and other bulk chemicals. It is now headquartered in Houston and has a strong presence in the Middle East and African markets.

Iran, after recent mega expansions, is a major exporter of many bulk chemicals, particularly to northeast and southeast Asia.

But US companies are not allowed by law to have any business dealings with Iran. Instead, most of Iran’s chemical exports to Asia are handled by Japanese, Chinese and Singapore companies.

Joe Kamalick in Washington, Al Greenwood and Brian Balboa in Houston contributed to this story

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly