The companies Dan-Bunkering and Bunker Holding were sentenced to millions of kroner fines on Tuesday for violating EU sanctions on Syria. The director received a four-month suspended sentence.
The companies have been found guilty by the Court in Odense of having sold 172,000 tons of jet fuel in violation of an EU ban.
The large quantities were sold to the Russian military. The deliveries took place in Turkey and in European ports close to Syria. The fraud police have presented evidence that the fuel was shipped to Banias in Syria, the court believes.
Dan-Bunkering has been sentenced to a fine of 30 million kroner, while the punishment for the parent company is a fine of four million kroner.
Keld R. Demant, CEO of Bunker Holding and chairman of the board of directors of Dan-Bunkering, has been sentenced to four months in prison. However, he will not have to serve any time. The sentence is made conditional.
Violation was negligent
The boss has been found guilty of violating the sanctions under particularly aggravating circumstances. But his violation of the Criminal Code is negligent, says the presiding judge, Judge Jens Lind, when he explains the verdict.
In addition, the profits of just over 15 million DKK will be confiscated. To be precise, the treasury will receive 15,650,472 DKK and 82 øre.
- We will ask for time to reflect, says lawyer Jacob Skude Rasmussen, who has defended Dan-Bunkering. The same message comes from the lawyers defending Bunker Holding and Keld R. Demant.
The transactions were initiated in the autumn of 2015, just when Russia had entered the civil war in Syria on the side of President Assad.
A total of 33 deliveries took place. With signals off, the Russian tankers "Yaz" and "Muhkalatka" sailed the fuel to Syria, it has emerged during the case.
An expert from the Defence Academy has said during the case that Russia's entry into the war was a turning point. And this has also been taken up by the Fraud Police.
- It says something about the seriousness of this violation that it has entered the tanks of Russian fighter jets, which have bombed the opposition to Assad on behalf of Assad, said senior prosecutor Anders Rechendorff during his procedure.
Ritzau
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