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Iranian Official Set Up International Money Laundering Network
(Telegraph-UK) Damien McElroy - A senior aide to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has used trips to Vienna to defy UN sanctions to build an international money laundering network that funds black market equipment purchases by the country's regime. At least two visits this year to Vienna by a senior departmental director have been used to carry out transactions worth millions of euros, according to sources. While the official and the Center for Innovation and Technology Cooperation - part of Ahmadinejad's presidential office - are on the U.S. Treasury's sanctions list, no measures have been taken against the official in Europe. Internal documents have been obtained from the center by People's Mujahadeen, the Iranian opposition group. The official spent more than a week in Austria in April and September, holding meetings with key lieutenants, two of whom are Iranian businessmen and two Austrians. The center is a key vehicle for supplying technology to Iran's nuclear program.