Singapore- based oil investor Winson Group refuted on Tuesday a U.N. Security Council record affirming that it provided gas to North Korea in violation of worldwide permissions.
“Winson denies, in the strongest possible terms, any and all allegations and/or insinuations that it knowingly facilitated the illicit supply of oil to North Korea in breach of any United Nations Security Council resolutions, and/or that it is a ‘key node’ in North Korea’s procurement of oil or refined petroleum products,” the firm claimed in a declaration.
The oil investor, describing a UN Panel of Experts’ Midterm Report datedSept 8, claimed it was dealt with unjustly by the Panel regardless of having “extended its fullest cooperation” to its “copious amounts of information and documents” demands as component of its examinations right into declared infractions.
“A significant number of allegations and insinuations made against Winson in the Report relate to matters which were not part of the Panel’s series of (very detailed) questions put to Winson,” the firm claimed.
“Winson therefore has not been given any opportunity to be heard and/or present its case in relation to such allegations and insinuations – which amounts to a substantial breach of natural justice.”
The oil investor included that it “ceased all ship-to-ship operations to tankers which are not owned and/or operated by Winson in the area stretching from outside Taiwanese port limits through the East China Sea to the Yellow Sea” where a few of the claimed immoral transfers occurred.
Having simply acquired a duplicate of the record, the firm claimed it might release an extra thorough declaration eventually once it had the chance to consider it thoroughly.
“In the meantime, Winson remains committed to cooperating with the Panel and demonstrating that it did not at any time breach any UN sanctions against North Korea.”
(Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh)
