بتهمة غسل الأموال وتهريب النفط.. عقوبات أمريكية ضد شخصين و5 كيانات حوثية

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced today (Tuesday) the imposition of sanctions on two individuals and five entities operating as a network for oil smuggling and evading sanctions throughout Yemen, accusing them of money laundering.

The U.S. Treasury Department stated in a press release that the two individuals and the five entities sanctioned are among the main importers of petroleum products and money launderers benefiting the Houthis, explaining that the Houthis receive hundreds of millions of dollars annually by working with businessmen and use it for destabilizing activities in the region.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Fulkander said, “The Houthis are collaborating with opportunistic businessmen to reap enormous profits from importing petroleum products, enabling the group to access the international financial system,” adding, “These networks of dubious companies support the Houthi machine, and the Treasury will use all available tools to thwart these schemes.”

The department confirmed in its statement that Mohammed Al-Sunaidar, who is included in the sanctions, manages a network of oil companies and is one of the prominent oil importers in Yemen, noting that the sanctions included three companies in the Al-Sunaidar network as they coordinated with a company listed on the U.S. sanctions list to deliver petroleum products worth approximately $12 million to the Houthis.

The statement pointed out that the second individual included in the sanctions, Yahya Mohammed Al-Wazir, is behind the money laundering and collection for the Houthis, and that his company spent nearly six million euros through five payments to purchase bulk coal for import to Yemen between November and December of last year, although it claims in its operations to trade in stationery to Sana'a.

It is noteworthy that the Houthis had admitted earlier this month to sinking two ships, one of which is the "Eternity Sea," which flies the Liberian flag and is operated by a Greek company, killing several of its sailors and kidnapping others.

The U.S. State Department had announced on March 5 that it classified the Houthi group as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

For his part, Yemeni Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism Muammar Al-Eryani welcomed the U.S. sanctions against oil smuggling and money laundering networks linked to the Houthis, confirming that they represent an important step in the international efforts aimed at drying up the Houthis' sources of funding and contribute to freezing their assets and disrupting the financial and commercial networks they rely on to finance their terrorist operations inside Yemen and the region, as well as in carrying out their repeated attacks on international shipping lines in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb, and the Gulf of Aden.

Al-Eryani reiterated that the trade in petroleum derivatives represents a main artery for the Houthis, from which they earn between $2.5 to $3 billion annually from the import and sale of oil and gas through imposing doubled customs and tax fees on imports, receiving free shipments of oil and gas from their supporters, in addition to price differentials in local markets and the black market, calling on the international community, led by the European Union and the United Kingdom, to take similar steps to pursue Houthi oil smuggling and money laundering networks, which would help stop funding the war against the Yemeni people and curb their terrorist activities that the entire world is now paying the price for.

Yemeni Minister of Information warned oil companies and oil tanker owners against dealing with the Houthi group, considering it a terrorist organization listed on the sanctions lists, confirming that any commercial dealings with them represent a violation of international laws and expose companies, tankers, and their officials to legal accountability and international sanctions.