FinCEN file exposes Chinese businessman’s money in ‘Secret Iran Missiles’ program

Chinese businessman Mingfu and the companies that he is linked with used to buy inputs for the production of missiles, but they deceive their suppliers about the use that will be given to these raw materials

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New Delhi: Amid the can of worms opened due to the leaked Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) files is a reported trail of illicit funding of a Chinese businessman supporting a ‘secret Iran missile’ program. The money trail of the Chinese businessman all the way till Tehran was tracked from one of the leaked 2,657 documents which were sent to the US authorities between 2000 – 2017. This case of financial backing to a weapons development project in Iran is being classified under the Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) in the FinCEN files.

According to the classified reports, a Chinese businessman, located and operating from the central Mexican city of Leon, is at the heart of this case. Chen Mingfu, a businessman of Chinese origin, who was accused by the United States of ‘financing the development of a secret missile program in Iran.’ While living in Mexico, he carried out suspected money-laundering transfers that involved 13 banks across five countries.

The report said that Mingfu had been identified as living at the location of an Asian restaurant in the Guanajuato state of Mexico. From this location, he allegedly operated the financing of arms for Iran. In 2016, Washington accused Mingfu of supporting the production of weapons of mass destruction, froze his assets, and enlisted him on a sanctions list.

The report with serial number – 31000088049421, drawn up by FinCEN on June 24, 2016 highlights that the New York branch of an international bank had identified 316 suspicious transactions linked to Mingfu. These transactions were carried out between January 11, 2010, to March 26, 2015, wherein $13,253,000 was remitted by Mingfu and companies to which he had business links among them Anhui Land Group Company Limited, Mabrooka Trading, and Candid General Trading LLC.

The FinCEN file added that Mingfu used a bank account with an international bank to send money from Mexico, and also an account at the Bank of China in New York.

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The file added that Mingfu and the companies that he is linked used to buy inputs for the production of missiles, but they deceive their suppliers about the use that will be given to these raw materials. It further stated that the final user of these inputs was believed to be an Iranian company – Navid Composite Material Company – that was sanctioned by US authorities in 2013 for its alleged involvement in the production of components for weapons.

Despite the US sanctions and vigil on his activities, Mingfu’s ‘business network, contacts, and deals’ remained active until May 2020.