POLISH STATE-OWNED COMPANY SOLD PARTS USED IN IRANIAN DRONES, CLAIMS RADIO STATION

Thu 18 July 2024:

A Polish state-owned company sold parts which were used in Iranian combat drones, private broadcaster Radio Zet reported on Thursday. No sources for the information were named, said Reuters, but prosecutors had been investigating the issue since 2022.

Iran has supplied thousands of Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They have been used to exhaust Ukrainian air defences and hit infrastructure far from the front lines.

Polish prosecutors confirmed in an email that they were investigating the possible export of dual-use products manufactured in Poland, albeit without mentioning Iran.

Poland is a NATO member and has been one of Ukraine’s biggest supporters, both under the previous nationalist government and Donald Tusk’s current pro-European administration. However, according to Radio Zet, a Polish company belonging to the Industrial Development Agency was selling fuel pumps which ended up in Iranian drones.

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The station claimed that WSK Poznan sold parts to Iran Motorsazan Company, which produces agricultural tractors, but the pumps ended up in Iranian factories producing military unmanned aerial vehicles, which were then purchased by Russia. It said that the issue had been investigated by the Internal Security Agency (ABW) which notified the prosecution service.

In its emailed statement, the prosecutor’s office said it was “conducting proceedings regarding the export from Poland of products manufactured in [WSK Poznan] being dual-use products without the legally required permit of the Minister of Development and Technology.”

As part of the ongoing investigation, the CEO of the company at the time was charged with selling products of strategic importance without appropriate clearance, it said, facing up to 10 years in prison.

The ABW, Industrial Development Agency, State Assets Ministry and the company did not immediately reply to Reuters’ requests for comments.

-MEMO

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