Telecoms company to pay $1.8m to resolve BIS charges
A California-based subsidiary of Vietnamese state-owned company, VTA Telecom Corporation, is to pay more than $1.8m to settle allegations that it ‘provided false information to BIS [the United States Bureau of Industry and Security] officials and officials of other United States agencies in connection with export license applications and other export activities to conceal the defense purposes of some of its exports,’ BIS has said.
The charging order says that VTA was established in 2013 as a subsidiary of a state-owned telecommunications company based in Hanoi, Vietnam, and two years later ‘began procuring and exporting items from the United States to the Parent Company in Vietnam.’
Amongst the alleged violations, the BIS order says that VTA made false statements ‘including on its export license applications to BIS and other export control documentation, in connection with the export of certain power amplifiers/JFET transistors, which were controlled under ECCN 3A001.b.3.b. for National Security (NS), Regional Stability (RS) and Anti-Terrorism (AT) reasons and required a license to export to Vietnam.’
It said that on the basis of an application which contained false statements, ‘BIS granted VTA a license to export 100 transistors and 2 development tools worth $59,100 to Vietnam.’
Kevin J. Kurland, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement at BIS said the Bureau ‘will not tolerate exporters that provide false representations related to export regulations and laws. This enforcement action demonstrates the serious nature and consequences of such behaviour and BIS’s continued commitment to safeguarding U.S. national security interests on behalf of the public we serve.’
