EU Council takes 5 Iranian bank managers off sanctions list

TEHRAN, Aug.5(MNA) - The Council of the European Union reversed its decision to place five Iranian bankers on its sanctions list. Sanctions had been placed on bankers Abdolnaser Hemati (chairperson of Sina Bank), Ali Divandari (chairperson of Mellat Bank), Ahmad Azizi (head of the Bank Melli branch in London), and Azizi’s his deputies, Mohammad Reza Mesgarian and Saeed Zavar, for their alleged involvement in nuclear 'proliferation-sensitive' activities in Iran. Ali Divandari, who had been fighting his listing with an Indian solicitors firm based in London, was added to the list in July 2010 on the basis that he personally was supporting a weapons program that the EU claims Iran is pursuing. The council had designated the Bank Mellat as it considered it to be involved in Iran's nuclear activities and then went a step further, said Zaiwalla, by deciding to personally designate the bank's chairperson too on the basis of his job title. The EU Council made its decision to 'de-list' Divandari shortly after this hearing at the General Court of the European Union in May 2012, before the court delivered its judgment. The EU council decision has been published in the August 5 edition of the EU newspaper, the Fars News Agency reported.