UK Sanctions New Zealand Insurer Maritime Mutual After Reuters Report

Britain on Tuesday sanctioned Maritime Mutual, the New Zealand-based marine insurer that was the subject of a Reuters special report into how it had helped in the trade of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian and Russian oil.



"(Maritime Mutual) is or has been involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia by carrying on business in a sector of strategic significance to the Government of Russia, namely the Russian energy sector," the British government said in a statement.



Reuters reported in October that Maritime Mutual had insured vessels in what's known as the shadow fleet – hundreds of oil tankers owned by different firms that transport sanctioned cargoes from countries such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela, concealing their trade with fake locations, documents and names.



The company had insured at some point almost one in six of the shadow fleet tankers sanctioned by Western governments, including the United States, European Union and Britain, Reuters found.