A Romanian, former employee of the Ministry of National Defense, will be extradited to the US, as he had allegedly traded military products to Iran. The Bucharest Court of Appeal allowed the request of judiciary authorities. The case was investigated in Romania by the Romanian Intelligence Office SRI and by the Organized Crime and Terrorism Investigation Directorate (DIICOT)

Romanian Aurel Frăţilă is accused of selling equipment for airplanes in Iran, and he became a target for the US authorities, which asked for support of the Romanian authorities, considering the Romanian had used his companies to do business.

The court also decided Fratila should be arrested prior to his extradition. Iranian general Jamshid Ghassemi and Romanian Aurel Fratila were indicted in October 2006 for money laundering and conspiracy to export to Iran items considered to be military products by the US, via Romania, without holding the needed licensing from the US State Department, according to www.iranwatch.org. Ghassemi was arrested in Bangkok in 2006 but was freed in 2008 after the local court rejected his extradition to the US. He is a general of the Iranian air forces.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: sxc.hu)