HENLEY AND PARTNERS' CHRISTIAN KALIN'S NAME IS LISTED FOR TRIAL IN HASHEMINENEJAD/PILATUS BANK MONEY LAUNDERING CASE

CHRISTIAN KALIN

In a recent court filing, in the money laundering and sanctions case against the Iranian businessman (and Pilatus Bank CEO) Ali Sadr Hasheminenejad, the United States Attorneys' Office notified the Court that one of the individuals who will be named at trial is CHRISTIAN KALIN, of Henley and Partners Group, the international CBI consultancy which obtained Sadr a St Kitts & Nevis passport and citizenship, around the time that Sadr's Pilatus Bank received its banking license in Malta, in January, 2014.

According to published reports, Sadr used his St Kitts CBI passport to acquire two shell companies, Stratus International Contracting, which is known to have been formed in Turkey, and Clarity Trade and Finance, incorporated in Switzerland. The United States has alleged that Sadr moved more than $115m through the American financial structure, from a dodgy Venezuelan housing project. Ultimately, the funds went to a British Virgin Islands corporation reportedly incorporated by Sadr, and thereafter to Iranian nationals and entities.

There are a number of known connections between Henley, Kalin and Sadr & Pilatus Bank, going back several years, but Henley has repeatedly denied that a close relationship exists or existed. Sadr's dark background, and that of his wealthy father, both of whom are closely linked to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, raising the question of whether Pilatus Bank was an Iranian government asset. therefore, St Kitts is guilty of an abject failure to conduct an effective due diligence investigation on Sadr, before granting him his SKN passport. Other family members of Sadr also obtained St Kitts passports, and many reside in the United States, which is disturbing.

This case simply confirms that the East Caribbean states, intoxicated by the huge fees they receive for CBI passports, and totally dependent upon those fees to prop up government budget burdened by top-heavy, and often unnecessary, official staff, taking down hefty salaries, ignore the red flags, and accept any wealthy applicants with US Dollars.