(S) SHIELD S59A-05: GERMAN GOVERNMENT REQUESTS

S E C R E T BERLIN 001000 SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN/CB AND EUR/AGS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2032 TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC GM IR AE SUBJECT: (S) SHIELD S59A-05: GERMAN GOVERNMENT REQUESTS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON IRANIAN CBW-RELATED PROCUREMENT REF: A. BERLIN 600 ¶B. STATE 34341 Classified By: Global Affairs Counselor Donald R. Shemanski for reasons 1.4 (b),(c),and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request -- please see paragraph 5. ¶2. (S) German MFA Export Control Division Desk Officer Andreas Kauke passed to Global Affairs officer May 10 a German Government request concerning ref B demarche. Kauke said the German Federal Office of Customs Investigations (ZKA) had opened an investigation into Nippon Express (Deutschland) GmbH's shipment of a reaction vessel to Samamicro Company in Iran (ref B). The German authorities checked with the German Federal Economic and Export Licensing Agency (BAFA) for an application by Nippon Express to export the reaction vessel either to Al Minzal Medical Equipment and Instruments in the UAE, which ref B cites as a facilitator of the transfer, or to Samamicro in Iran. BAFA has no record of such an export application, nor does Al Minzal appear on any export license applications in BAFA's files, according to Kauke. ¶3. (S) Kauke said the ZKA traced a shipment that may correspond to the one cited in ref B by Nippon Express to Samamicro Company and passed the information to the German Federal Prosecutor General (GBA) for further investigation. Kauke noted that Nippon Express may have only acted as the freight forwarder of this shipment, but that the authorities would investigate all links to this case and look for the original exporter, if one existed. Kauke also said the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) knows of Al Minzal's business associations with Samamicro and will investigate further. ¶4. (S) With the information uncovered so far by German authorities, Kauke said the German federal prosecutors are interested in the case. The prosecutors suspect that Al Minzal is connected to a WMD suppliers ring working on behalf of Iran but need to acquire evidence to take legal action against German firms connected with it. Kauke requested that the USG provide information useable in a court of law to the German federal prosecutors for this case. ¶5. (U) ACTION REQUEST: Post requests guidance on how to respond to the Germany query for additional information. TIMKEN JR