Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08HONGKONG843
2008-05-08 08:37:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Hong Kong
Cable title:  

EXTRANCHECK: POST SHIPMENT VERIFICATION:

Tags:  BMGT BEXP ETRD ETTC HK 
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VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHHK #0843/01 1290837
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080837Z MAY 08
FM AMCONSUL HONG KONG
TO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
INFO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4826
RHMFIUU/HQ BICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 3850
UNCLAS HONG KONG 000843 

USDOC FOR 532/OEA/MNICKSON-DORSEY /LLAUCIUS
USDOC FOR 3132 FOR FCS/OIO REGIONAL DIRECTOR WILLIAM ZARIT
BICE FOR OFFICE OF STRATEGIC INVESTIGATIONS
SINGAPORE FOR FCS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: BMGT BEXP ETRD ETTC HK
SUBJECT: EXTRANCHECK: POST SHIPMENT VERIFICATION:
TECNOMIC PROCESSORS PTE LTD
REF: A) USDOC 01397 B) USDOC 02727 C) HK 03094 (2007) D) USDOC

05482 (2005)
UNCLAS HONG KONG 000843

USDOC FOR 532/OEA/MNICKSON-DORSEY /LLAUCIUS
USDOC FOR 3132 FOR FCS/OIO REGIONAL DIRECTOR WILLIAM ZARIT
BICE FOR OFFICE OF STRATEGIC INVESTIGATIONS
SINGAPORE FOR FCS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: BMGT BEXP ETRD ETTC HK
SUBJECT: EXTRANCHECK: POST SHIPMENT VERIFICATION:
TECNOMIC PROCESSORS PTE LTD
REF: A) USDOC 01397 B) USDOC 02727 C) HK 03094 (2007) D) USDOC

05482 (2005)

1.Unauthorized disclosure of the information provided below is
prohibited by Section 12C of the Export Administration Act.


2. As per reftel A request and at the direction of the Office of
Enforcement Analysis (OEA) of the USDOC Bureau of Industry and
Security (BIS),Regional Export Control Officer Philip Ankel (ECO)
conducted a post shipment-verification (PSV) at Tecnomic Processors
Pte. Ltd., 138 Cecil Street, No. 10-01 Cecil Court, Singapore
(Tecnomic). The items in question are six field programmable gate
arrays exported to Tecnomic on or about September 7, 2007. The
items are classified under Export Control Classification Number
(ECCN) 3A001A.2.C and are controlled for national security (NS)
reasons. The exporter was Actel Corporation of Mountain View,
California.


3. According to the Singapore companies registry, Tecnomic was
registered in 1988 and its registered share capital is the Singapore
dollar equivalent of approximately USD 650,000. Its directors are
Indian National Mr. Suresh Kumar Saradadevi Krishna Pillai,
Singapore Permanent Resident Mr. Rajan Natrajann and Singapore
Permanent Resident Mr. Ravi Krishnamoorthy. The sole shareholder is
Metchem Engineering S.A. of Zurich, Switzerland.


4. A review of the company's web site (www.tecnomic.com) reveals
that the company markets itself as a value-added distributor for
electronic components, telecom building blocks and IT &
infrastructure related products in the Indian sub-continent, South
East Asia and South Korea. The company shares a telephone number in
Singapore with Dexcel Electronics Designs Pte. Ltd, its affiliate
located at a different address (www.dexceldesigns.com).


5. On April 23, 2008, the ECO, accompanied by a representative of
Singapore Customs visited the company and met with Mr. Suresh Kumar,
Director of Business Development, Mr. Rajan Natrajan, Director and
Ms. Lee, Meng Huey, Head of Logistics. Mr. Kumar provided an
overview of the Tecnomic's activities, which are broken into three

primary areas, namely electronic components distribution, telecom
platform sales and system integration. The business is evenly
divided between these three business lines. The company has staff
in several ASEAN countries and a total headcount of approximately

70. It is a distributor of Intel and Avergo and others. Typically
new customers come to the company through various promotion
activities although the company does receive some Internet generated
orders.


6. The company is collocated with another company called Fuyo
Capital. According to Mr. Natrajan, Fuyo Capital and Tecnomic share
common owners but are engaged in unrelated businesses.


7. As to the particular items in question, Mr. Natrajan stated
that those items had been shipped to Free Components Co. Ltd., Rm
1702, Grand City Plaza, Nos. 1 Sai Lau Kok Road, Tsuen Wan, Hong
Kong. The Bill To address on the invoice provided by Mr. Natrajan
included an additional address for Free Components, namely Unit
2401A, 24/F, Park-In Commercial Center, 56 Dundas Street, Mongkok,
Hong Kong. The Ship To address on the original Purchase Order
provided by Mr. Natrajan stated that the items should be shipped to
Xing Hang Yuan Limited, at the 1702 Grand City Plaza address noted
above. Free Components is the subject of a pending PSV referenced
in Reftel B. Free Components is also linked to two additional
unfavorable PSVs referenced in Reftels C and D as well as a pending
administrative enforcement action relating to unauthorized reexports
from Taiwan to Xing Hang Yuan. Ms. Lee provided a FedEx airway bill
showing shipment to Free Components on September 13, 2007.


8. As the conversation turned to a more in-depth discussion of the
shipment in question, Messrs. Natrajan and Kumar asked, on several
occasions, whether the reexport to Hong Kong was a problem. They
referred to the applicable ECCN entries in the EAR they had printed
from the BIS web site and noted that the items could ship NLR to
Hong Kong. They appeared well versed in the requirements of the EAR
(although the ECO cannot say whether they were familiar with the EAR
prior to ECO's request for a meeting or became familiar thereafter).



9. The company stated that it had done business with Free
Components two to three times per year in the past. They understood
that this company was a consolidator for other customers. In a
previous instance, Tecnomic representatives understood that the
customer was located in India. As a result, they assumed that future
shipments were also destined for India. Therefore, in the Purchase
Order to Actel, they stated that the country of destination for the
parts was India. When the ECO pointed out that the contact phone



numbers for Free Components and Xing Hang Yan Limited were mainland
China numbers, Tecnomics representatives had no specific response
beyond the fact that the items had been shipped to Hong Kong. Note
that these items (if properly classified by the exporter) may
generally be exported and reexported to Singapore, India and Hong
Kong license free but likely require a license to mainland China.
By separate e-mail, the company forwarded three additional orders
for the identical items it had filled for Free Components and Xing
Hang Yuan for a total of 32 items. ECO will forward these documents
by separate e-mail to OEA.


10. At the time visited, Tecnomic did not appear to be a suitable
recipient of the commodities shipped since those items had most
likely been diverted from Singapore to end-users in Mainland China
in probable violation of the EAR. Tecnomic's actions in relation to
the applicable items illustrate either a lack of understanding of
U.S. export controls or the intent to circumvent U.S. export
controls (or some combination of the two). ECO recommends a thorough
review of all shipments to Tecnomic and Free Components (and its
addresses note above) to determine whether additional shipments are
worthy of scrutiny. Additionally, ECO recommends that the BIS
Office of Export Enforcement conduct an outreach to the U.S.
exporter to determine what information the exporter had in hand when
it completed the underlying export to Tecnomic (and to determine
whether it has made shipments directly to Free Components or Xing
Hang Yuan Limited or received inquiries from those companies).