Italy blocks sale of yachts to North Korea's Kim

[Coventina]

Source: Washington Post

ROME (Reuters) - Italy has blocked the sale of two luxury yachts which police say were destined for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, in violation of international sanctions on his isolated communist state.

Financial police in the city of Lucca in central Italy said the vessels were worth nearly 13 million euros ($18 million) and had been purchased by an Austrian intermediary from the Azimut-Benetti boatyard, one of the world's leading yachtmakers.

The Austrian intermediary then ceded the contract to a Chinese company, which in turn paid a Hong Kong business to take delivery of the vessels, police said.

"The difficulty was tracing it back to a violation of the sanctions," said Colonel Antonio Leone, the Finance Police's commander in Lucca. Asked if Kim was the intended final recipient of the vessels, he said: "It is an irrefutable fact."



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/23/AR2009072300947.html

[kegler14]

1. Kim buying yachts while his people starve. What's new?

[ohio2007]

3. He was using western food aid as leverage in a barter deal

:sarcasm:

[JonQ]

2. I wonder how long his regime would last

if they people were given free access to this information. If they knew exactly who was causing their suffering.