RIL's Iran links invite US ire

Export-Import Bank of the US has come under attack from a group of American Congressmen for a 'perfunctory' due diligence on India's top corporate entity Reliance Industries (RIL) and failing to detect its ties with Iran.

The lawmakers asked the bank to get a commitment from the Indian firm on ceasing gasoline shipments to Iran before releasing the undisbursed guarantees to RIL.

They have sought suspension of assistance by Ex-Im, which has approved loan guarantees worth $900 million (about Rs 4,500 crore) to the Indian giant.

Led by Brad Sherman, eight Congress members said in a strong-worded letter to Ex-Im Bank that the US is leading an effort to increase economic and diplomatic pressures on the Iranian regime in response to Tehran's nuclear programme and its support for terrorism...

"While we would normally strongly support this type of assistance to facilitate US exports to India, we are deeply concerned about the inadequate attention paid to other vital national interest in the approval of these guarantees."

Criticising the guarantee given by the Bank to Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, they said, "Reliance has been a major supplier of refined petroleum products for Iran... Reliance at times has provided as much as 30 per cent of Iran's need for imported petroleum."

Commenting on the bank's earlier response to US Senate on the subject, they said, "It would appear that any such examination, if conducted at all, was perfunctory at the best. With a minimal examination, the relationship between RIL and Iran would presumably have come to light. That relationship in turn should have caused pause, at a minimum, and likely should have caused the US to reject the applications."