UAE firm denies involvement in Iranian Jumbo purchases

Sharjah-based Sayegh Group Aviation has issued a strong denial today that it has in any way been involved in the deal that has seen three Boeing 747-300 aircraft switched to an Iranian airline.
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In a statement issued earlier today the company said  that the information - recently published by various magazines and news agencies - about the suspected sale of the company’s formerly owned aircrafts to unauthorized parties are highly speculative.

Reports on the deal were broken by UK-headquartered Flightglobal. News publications - including Arabian Aerospace - quoted the Reed agency in which it was claimed Iran Air had acquired the first of three Boeing 747-300s indirectly from the Kyrghyzstan operator Al Sayegh Airlines which is owned by the UAE group.

The 1986-vintage aircraft had been registered in Gambia but were shown been to have been purchased by the Sayegh Group in 2010. Flightglobal quoted the company at the time as saying: "Please note that Sayegh Group sold the three 747-300s to an aviation company, but not to Iran." but went on to say the aircraft are believe to have been sold to an unnamed Gambian company. "It looks like the Gambian entity has fronted the deal," a source told flightglobal.

With tensions mounting in the UAE over relations with Iran - members of the Iranian parliament have recently reiterated their claim over several UAE islands in the Gulf - Al Sayegh called for a thorough internal investigation into the aviation division's activities.

In today's statement the company said, "The company has retrieved all of the existing documents related to the mentioned transactions and requested the same from its customers as well. Reviewing the documents and other available information the company, it is established and confirmed that the aircrafts have not been sold nor registered in any jurisdiction what would infringe any agreements or export controls that are related to the transaction or to the aircrafts. Sayegh Group Aviation had been always consistent with the internal policies and processes. Compliance with the legal undertakings of our contractual obligations the top priority and will be at all times treated with the utmost importance."

 

 

 

 

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