17th Jul 2020 08:27
(Alliance News) - Essentra PLC on Friday announced its UAE subsidiary Essentra FZE Co Ltd reached a public settlement with the US Department of Justice over an investigation into some unauthorised transactions made in 2018.
The transactions made by two Essentra FZE employees were not approved or known by senior management outside the UAE and had links to North Korea.
The Buckinghamshire, England based plastic and fibre supplier has agreed to pay a cash penalty of USD666,544.
Court filings described what US officials in Washington called "egregious" wrongdoing by the firm in exporting cigarette filters to North Korea through a network of front companies in China and other countries, using deceptive practices to move money through US banks, The Washington Post reported.
Both employees have exited the company.
Essentra Chief Executive Paul Forman said: "A very thorough and in depth investigation has been carried out to fully understand the root cause of the issues we have seen.
"We have made a very significant investment of both time and money, which has now equipped us with enhanced protection against any potential future issues of this nature."
Essentra shares were up 0.6% at 326.20 pence each on Friday morning in London.
By Greg Roxburgh; [email protected]
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Essentra