Most businesses have their recurring clients and favorite suppliers & service providers. So does Thunder Sahara, a front company used by MODAFL for international trade. One regular customer of Thunder Sahara is Oman-based Arabian Energy & Bunkering Services LLC. Although its name may suggest otherwise, this company appears to have a prominent role facilitating petroleum sales. These sales are usually accompanied by several recurring actions:
- Falsifying the petroleum's Iraqi origin.
- Shipping it to Linggi, Malaysia or Singapore.
- “Blending” it in Malaysia or Singapore by a “ship to ship” transfer and issuing another certificate of origin- this time a Malaysian one.
- Shipping it to the end user in China.
An example of Iranian crude oil masqueraded as Iraqi oil through a fabricated Iraqi SOMO bill of lading for the MODAFL-affiliated MT REMY; the consignee is Oman-based Arabian Energy & Bunkering Services LLC; shipped to Linggi, Malaysia
Fabricated Iraqi “Certificate of Origin”. Prominent mistakes in fabrication can be seen in the text of the different stamps: “Baghdad Chamber (missing “of” being a part of the organization’s name) Commerce” and “fxport (mistake in the original stamp) Dept We Certify The Content Of This Document”- just very informal.
Sahara Thunder and Arabian Energy’s another partner is Singapore-based Chemcruz Energy PTE LTD, switching documents with Arabian Energy and organizing “blending” in Malaysia, with the help of Malaysia-based Kirk Ward SDN BHD, that appears to take care of the STS itself.
WikIran calls upon Chinese, Omani and Malaysian authorities and financial institutions to act against these actors and to prevent more fraud and abuse, meant for financing Iranian Ministry of Defense (MODAFL) and its malign programs.
