BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3: PRE-LICENSE CHECK ON APPL

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000823 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR PM/DTCC - BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR ADDIS ABABA FOR KEVIN SULLIVAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KOMC ETTC ET HR SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3: PRE-LICENSE CHECK ON APPL 050057656 REF: STATE 109965 ¶1. (SBU) PolOff reached Drago Venceslav Pensa, head of Tradel D.O.O., by phone on September 5. Pensa confirmed the reftel order for PRC-77 radio components under license application 050057656 and reported that he is selling directly to the Ethiopian Ministry of National Defense through its Central Procurement Department (CPD). He was cooperative but maintained that there were no intermediaries in this deal. ¶2. (SBU) Pensa runs Tradel as a one-man operation doing about a quarter million dollars in business per year. He has done business in Ethiopia relating to radio equipment dating back to the days of the former Yugoslavia and has maintained contacts there. He is the registered Croatian representative for the US company ITT and has facilitated Post-supported purchases of U.S. radio equipment for the Croatian military. He said he has tried to convince his Ethiopian contacts to purchase ITT equipment, but the MND is not in a position to change its equipment and continues to require components for its PRC-77 inventory. ¶3. (SBU) When asked directly if he had heard of the Ethiopian firm Lalibela, he said he thought it had been an entity similar to the MND's CPD and may no longer exist, though he admitted his memory on this issue was vague. BRADTKE