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Indian Company director held for sending chemicals to Iraq

IRNA

New Delhi, Oct 18, IRNA -- India`s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence
(DRI) has arrested the Director of a private company on charges of 
exporting chemicals to Iraq for manufacturing weapons. 
According to the Pioneer, a New Delhi-based English daily, the 
accused, Hans Raj Shiv, works with the National Electronic Corporation
(NEC) Private Limited at Nehru Place. He is accused of shipping 
chemicals to Iraq that were used by the Saddam Hussein regime between 
1999-2001. 
He was arrested on Friday at his arrival from Ukraine. In 
contravention to the International Laws and Conventions, Hans Raj had 
exported weapon grade chemicals to Iraq, which the then Iraqi 
President Saddam Hussein allegedly used to manufacture chemical and 
biological weapons. This is mentioned in the chargesheet filed by the 
DRI in the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravinder 
Dudeja. 
The USA had imposed penalties against the Indian firm and Hans 
Raj on February 20, 2003, for violating laws which forbids trading 
chemical and biological weapons. 
After initial interrogation, Hans Raj was produced before the 
ACMM who remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days. As soon as a 
First Information Report (FIR) was lodged, accused Hans Raj fled the 
country and started operating from Dubai and Ukraine. 
After the sanction was imposed by the US government, the host 
countries exerted pressure on him to leave their lands, DRI sources 
said. He arrived in the wee hours on Friday in a flight from Ukraine. 
According to the charge sheet, the company had exported certain 
chemicals to Iraq in contravention of the Sections 132 and 135 of the 
Customs Act between 1999 and 2001. Mandatory permission was required 
under the law for exporting such goods. 
The DRI had arrested two directors of the company - Rajiv Dhir and
RPC Choudhary. Both of them are on bail. "The sanctions imposed on the
company, which operates from the Middle East and Eurasia, in pursuant 
to the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination
Act of 1991, were specific and do not extend to India or the Indian 
government", the US State Department had said. 
Various investigating agencies including the DRI had been 
conducting investigations into the activities of the NEC and 
affiliated companies for the past two years. The government had taken 
steps to prevent further exports of such chemicals to any other 
country. 
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End