Canadian sanctions against Iranian company don't cover board member with business interest in B.C.

An Iranian businessman who owns shares and sits on the board of a private Tehran-based company that has been sanctioned by Canada for co-ordinating the transport of weapons to Russia has a registered company in British Columbia, The Fifth Estate has learned.

In the latest corporate records filed in Iran's official journal, Mohammad Bagher Nahvi is listed as deputy chair of Safiran Airport Services. 

The cargo and commercial airline is one of five entities sanctioned by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) last November for what the federal government says is their role in the Iranian regime's "gross and systematic human rights violations and actions that continue to threaten international peace and security."

GAC alleges that Safiran "co-ordinated Russian military flights between Iran and Russia, through which the Iranian regime transferred lethal Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia."

The U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned Safiran Airport Services in September 2022 for coordinating "Russian military flights between Iran and Russia, including those associated with transporting Iranian UAVs, personnel, and related equipment from Iran to Russia."

Nahvi is also listed on the boards of other Iranian companies that appear to be part of the same Safiran group, including Safiran Freight and Cargo Services, which continues to advertise shipping services to Canada online. According to Iranian corporate governance rules, only shareholders of private companies can be members of the board, although they are not required to disclose the number of shares they own.

The Canadian sanctions on Safiran Airport Services do not extend beyond the corporate entity to company officers and directors or their families. 

Critics say listing only the company limits the effectiveness of the sanctions.

"From a financial warfare point of view, it makes sense that when you go after an entity, you go after the executives, you go after the board and you go after the family of members of the executive and the board," said Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iran sanctions expert at the Washington, D.C.-based think-tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 

"If you don't go after the high-level executives and members of the board, it's very easy that they can go and create a front company and engage in their operation. So [sanctioning the corporate entity] creates a problem, but it's not that difficult to go and replace that operation under another name."

In Canada, Nahvi is listed as one of three directors of Solabest Development Inc., an active company registered in British Columbia. In corporate registry documents, Nahvi lists a condo unit in Vancouver as his address.

Solabest Development Inc. was incorporated in B.C. in November 2021 and filed its latest annual return in November 2022, according to the corporate records.

On Nov. 1, 2022, an individual named Ensieh Nahvi was newly listed as one of the three directors of Solabest Development Inc. 

The Fifth Estate has viewed a copy of Ensieh Nahvi's Iranian identity booklet that includes the first name of her father Mohammad Bagher and his national ID number, which matches the national ID number for Mohammad Bagher Nahvi on Safiran's corporate documents.