In the aftermath of a devastating cyber-attack, Bank Sepah's internal documents reveal their front companies' schemes. Bank Sepah, the oldest bank in Iran and the primary bank of the Iranian Armed Forces, is involved in financing and facilitating the Islamic Regime’s missile program, proxy financing and nuclear ambitions.

Our previous article exposed the Prescence of UAE and Turkiye-based front companies in Bank Sepah's data leak. In this article, WikIran's Editorial will delve deeper into Chinese, Hong-Kong and other East Asia-based front companies that appear on Bank Sepah's documents, which constitute the vast majority of USD-denominated transactions involving the Bank.

The first enlightening document is a formal letter issued by Bank Sepah, which lists three Hong-Kong based front companies approved for use by the Bank. All of those companies possess USD-denominated bank accounts. This formal letter provides a glimpse into Bank Sepah's reliance on systemic breaching of anti-money laundering (AML) and terror financing (TF) standards through its own web of offshore front companies' USD accounts.

Most front companies exposed in the leak are hosted by Chinese or Hong-Kong based banks that are susceptible to engage in suspicious activities and regularly appear in our articles, such as Zhejiang Chouzhou Commercial Bank and China Zheshang Bank. However, there are exceptions, and HSBC bank appears once again in the leak, this time hosting accounts for a front company named D & H Trading Limited.

Singapore & Malaysia

Bank Sepah's data leak also features banks hosting front companies in less common jurisdictions, such as Singapore and Malaysia. The leaked materials notably expose a transaction between a Malaysian front company and a South Korean supplier.

The first image depicts an approved transfer request submitted on Iran's NIMA system, for the transactions of 30,285 EUR to the South Korean supplier, Chung Han Incorporated. The second image depicts proof of transfer for the same amount, made by a Malaysia-based front company, Sunshine Worldwide Business Limited.

Connections with Sanctioned Entities

Another interesting aspect is Bank Sepah's cooperation with NICO – Naftiran Intertrade Company S.A.R.L, a Swiss based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) responsible for carrying out petroleum export deals. In one specific case, NICO was suggested by Bank Sepah to use Palermo International Trade Limited, a front company with an account at Zhejiang Chouzhou Commercial Bank, as a vehicle for conducting transfers:

However, Bank Sepah's involvement in sanctions-busting "Shadow Banking" doesn't end there. Another customer is the sanctioned Persian Gulf Petrochemical Commercial Company (PGPICC), Iran's largest petrochemical exporter, previously exposed as well on WikIran.

Bank Sepah's presence in East Asia includes a web of front companies, USD-denominated accounts in Chinese and British banks abroad and connections to sanctioned entities.

WikIran calls on all banks involved to refrain from further hosting accounts for the exposed front companies. Such actions are immoral, as they assist a major funder of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Hosting these front companies also puts banks into significant risks associated with US sanctions evasion, as well as breaching of local or international anti-money laundering and terror financing regulations and standards.

To download the documents used in this article, click here.