The Court of the District of Columbia alleges, after an investigation by the FBI and the Department of Commerce, that an illegal transfer of the Boeing 747 aircraft, now owned by Emtrasur, was made. They maintain that since it was a sanctioned aircraft, it should have had the authorization of the United States Government. It is up to the Argentine federal judge Federico Villena to decide if it is appropriate to deliver the plane to the US according to the bilateral cooperation treaty
The Court of the District of Columbia (United States) asked the Argentine justice system to confiscate the Venezuelan-Iranian plane held at the Ezeiza international airport since last June and whose crew returned to Iran and Venezuela last week, after its death was decreed. lack of merit in the cause.
The US Justice, which had formally requested the embargo of the Boeing 747, now claimed ownership of the plane, arguing that after an investigation carried out by the Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the Federal Office of Investigations (FBI) was considered “the illegal transfer of custody and control of the defendant aircraft, by a sanctioned Iranian entity to a third party, without authorization from the United States government.”
#EYE Court of the District of Columbia issued a Confiscation Order to the Venezuelan-Iranian B-747 plane, currently at the Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ?@VozdeAmerica pic.twitter.com/BELMNwNxtj
– Celia Mendoza (@CELIAMENDOZA25) October 25, 2022
In other words, Iran should have asked the United States for permission before transferring the ship to Emtrasur, a Venezuelan aeronautical consortium related to Conviasa, according to US law. It is up to the Argentine federal judge Federico Villena to decide if it is appropriate to hand over the plane to the US according to the bilateral cooperation treaty.
The Boeing was first put into service on January 23, 1986 and sold to a defunct French company called Union de Transports Aériens (UTA). Since 2007 it was owned by Mahan Air – the Iranian company that the US accuses of cooperating with the Hezbollah terrorist group – and in October 2021, Mahan Air transferred this aircraft to Emtrasur.
On that point, Conviasa claims to have purchased the Boeing from Lance Tech General Trading, LLC, a company located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
But “neither Mahan Air, nor Conviasa, nor Emtrasur, nor Lance Tech General Trading, LLC, nor any other person requested or received authorization from the United States Government to transfer the Boeing, nor was there any license exception available” to fly it. , according to what several sources told the Argentine newspaper The clarin.
Last week, Judge Villena ruled that the five crew members of the plane (three Iranians and two Venezuelans) who had been held in Argentina since June 6 for alleged financing of terrorist activities were lacking in merit and authorized them to leave the country. He also ordered the precautionary measure against aircraft registration YV3531 to remain in effect.
*Also read: Venezuela receives the last crew members of the Emtrasur plane held in Argentina
In the accusation, it was mentioned that the plane could be used to make trips between Syria and Iran through an airline linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah organization, but for the judge there are no elements to prosecute the crew.
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