Walter Finch
An airline headquartered in Palma de Mallorca has been added to the US sanctions blacklist for allegedly helping Iran sell the drones Russia has used to target Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
Dubai airline iJet, also known as I JET Global DMCC, is accused of collaborating with US-sanctioned Iranian firm Safiran Airport Services (Safiran) to coordinate flights between Iran and Russia.
The flights allegedly transported Iranian UAVs, personnel, and related equipment from Iran to Russia.
iJet, which has offices in the Plaza del Olivar in Palma, was put on the sanctions list by the US Treasury on November 15.
“The United States is determined to sanction people and companies, no matter where they are located, that support Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen said in a statement.
“Today’s action exposes and holds accountable companies and individuals that have enabled Russia’s use of Iranian-built UAVs to brutalize Ukrainian civilians.”
The Mallorca-headquartered company is also accused of working with the Syrian company Cham Win Airlines to facilitate the transport of Syrian fighters to Russia, according to the Treasury.
Ultima Hora reports that the offices listed as housing iJet bear no trace whatsoever of housing iJet and are closed for refurbishment.
Any individual found to have been doing business with iJet faces the possibility of being sanctioned in turn, while the assets of the airline are liable to be seized and confiscated by US authorities.
News of the move follows hot on the heals of the arrest of Mallorca-based British CEO Richard Masters, 52 for allegedly helping a sanctioned Russian oligarch hide his ownership of a luxury yacht.
Richard Masters, 52, was stopped at Madrid-Barajas airport on Saturday January 21 along with Russian national Vladislav Osipov, 51.
The pair are facing charges in the US of money laundering and evading sanctions over trying to conceal the ownership of the $90 million, 78 metre motorboat ‘Tango’ by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
Masters, a well-known resident of the Mallorcan town of Santa Maria, has been the chief of luxury yacht firm Master Yachts for the past 23 years.
READ MORE:
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- Mallorca-based Brit arrested at Madrid airport over scheme to help Russian oligarch evade sanctions
- Man from Mallorca sentenced to 14 years for blackmail scheme to extort naked pictures from teenage girls in Spain
