Standard Chartered and HSBC accused of aiding Iran sanctions busting

HSBC and Standard Chartered have found themselves at the centre of allegations of a multi-million-dollar Iranian ‘conspiracy’ targeting a UK-based businesswoman.

The banks have been told to hand over records by a US judge after Delaram Zavarei claimed Iran ‘defrauded’ her oil services firm using front companies.

Her company ENEXD is poised to launch a High Court action against these proxy firms for hundreds of millions of pounds, US court documents reveal.

In them, ENEXD claims the UK banks may have helped breach US sanctions against Iran. It will bring unwelcome focus on both banks’ past breaches of US-Iran sanctions as President Trump threatens military action against Tehran.

Zavarei, who made a name as a singer, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘If you become a successful businessperson in Iran you have to work closely with the regime or it will turn against you, steal your firm and seek retribution.

‘When major Western banks facilitate financial operations yet fail to terminate transactions despite there being glaringly obvious red flags, it can and will end up breaching sanctions and funding Iran’s terrorist regime.

‘Defrauded’: Delaram Zavarei says banks did not stop Tehran’s plot. Main image: A staged pro-regime protest

‘This application is about getting the proper paper trail. Accountability must follow the evidence.’

Dubai-based ENEXD says Kuwait Finance House (KFH) was at the heart of the complex conspiracy, acting as a proxy for Iran. In 2017 ENEXD allegedly supplied $15 million of oil equipment to Nordic Energy FZC but in 2019 the KFH-owned firm refused to return the equipment.

In 2021 the London Court of International Arbitration ruled in ENEXD’s favour, according to the court documents, but it had been unable to enforce the judgment.

According to the claim, a whistleblower provided documents showing Nordic’s owner conspiring with Iran’s state oil company.

The allegation is that two Turkish banks, one owned by KFH, used Western banks including Standard Chartered and HSBC to pay the Kuwaiti conspirators. Both Turkish banks reject the allegations. Although neither HSBC nor Standard Chartered have been accused of criminality, both have faced substantial fines for breaching US sanctions in the past.

Any High Court claim could be acutely embarrassing to the UK Government and Royal Family, which have close ties with Kuwait’s ruling family. Central to this are a series of disputed documents leaked by an unknown whistleblower that the banks have been trying to unmask.

Standard Chartered and HSBC declined to comment. KFH said it ‘strenuously denies the allegations’, which are ‘entirely false’ and would ‘vigorously contest any (UK) claims’. It said it was sanctions-compliant, adding ‘KFH and its subsidiaries do not engage in financial transactions involving the Iranian government, including any government-owned’ oil firms.