BLUE LANTERN - END-USE CHECK ON LICENSES 050141348 AND

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000411 SENSITIVE SIPDIS PM/DTCC - BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC KOMC LO SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN - END-USE CHECK ON LICENSES 050141348 AND 050151985 REF: STATE 85332 ¶1. (U) In response to reftel, Post has established the bonafides of Velkoobchod zbrane s.r.o. and has received assurances from the company that no U.S.-origin defense articles have been sold, re-transferred or re-exported outside the Slovak Republic. Slovakia's appropriate licensing authorities confirm the company is properly authorized to import and sell the U.S. defense items referenced and has no derogatory information concerning the company. ¶2. (U) Poloff met Viliam Frano, owner and Director of Velkoobchod zbrane s.r.o., and Lenka Franova, Vice-President of Velkoobchod zbrane s.r.o. at their company headquarters in Nitra, Slovakia on September 8. The company appears to be professionally managed, successful, and conscious of regulations governing the import of U.S.-origin defense articles, including restrictions on re-transfer or re-export. The company's storage facilities are behind a two-meter high fence, and stored in locked cabinets behind double locked, alarmed, steel doors in a windowless vault. The company employs 30 persons of whom 6 are immediate family members of the owner and director. U.S-origin defense articles are not available for internet-sale on the company's website at www.frano-zbrane.sk. ¶3. (SBU) Poloff met Claudia Jurackova, Import-Export Officer at the Slovak Ministry of Economy, Department of Sensitive Goods Trade Management, on September 10. Jurackova confirmed that she issued the licenses in question and that copies supplied by the department match copies in her records. She said the firm is duly licensed and successful, and that she has no reason to believe it engages in practices that would put it in violation of its licenses or end-user certifications. Jurackova offered to initiate a formal review if requested to do so by a relevant U.S. authority. EDDINS