PM Barrow Says US Sanction of Kremsont Commercial Should Not Affect Belize

Dean Barrow

Late last week, we aired a story about Kremsont Commercial, a company operated by Syrian born Russian national Mudalal Khuri and registered in Belize. The US sanctioned Khuri and Kremsont for acting on or behalf of the government of Syria, and for conducting business with terrorist-designated ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Kremsont’s business address is the Blake Building in Belize City, where it has been registered by agent Commonwealth Corporate Services Limited. The sanction of a Belizean-registered entity would seem to be a black eye, but PM Barrow says he doesn’t see any real implications for the country.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“I wouldn’t think so. I want to be careful because we all know how touchy this sort of thing is, how sensitive…but this is one isolated instance of this company engaging in activity that’s a violation of US law and sanctions requirements. I don’t see how the jurisdiction, Belize as a jurisdiction will get into any trouble as a result of that. I think it’s limited to the particular outfit, the particular company.”

Barrow says the most obvious benefits to registering as an IBC would be escaping taxes and operating with some freedom as regards tax liability.