AUSTRIAN RESPONSE TO USG QUESTIONS ON SEPTEMBER 25

UNCLAS VIENNA 002618 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR ISN, IO, T, EUR, AND NEA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KNNP PARM IR AU SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE TO USG QUESTIONS ON SEPTEMBER 25 NOTICE ON BANK SEPAH REF: A) VIENNA 2574 B) STATE 139494 ¶1. (SBU) Following up on his interim response (ref A) to ref B questions, Markus Zehentner, Deputy Director of the Austrian National Bank's (ANB) Legal Division, contacted EconUnit Chief on October 12. Zehentner maintained that Austria's September 25 notification to the UNSCR regarding payments to Bank Sepah was, at this moment, purely hypothetical. According to Zehentner there are no pending payments to Bank Sepah and the ANB has not received any applications for authorizations of payments under paragraph 15 of UNSCR 1737. The Austrian notification was prompted by similar requests from other EU Member States (Germany, United Kingdom, and Italy). ¶2. (SBU) Zehentner added that, because there were no payment applications pending, the ANB could not answer the more specific questions in ref B. Zehentner emphasized that the ANB would review any requests for payments to Bank Sepah under paragraph 15 of UNSCR 1737 and paragraph 4 of UNSCR ¶1747. Most notably, the payment would have to be under contracts entered into force before the listing of Bank Sepah under Annex I of UNSCR 1747. Kilner