Page 14 - Plastcs News January 2019

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Zoltek to pay $7.8m settlement over Belarus sanctions violations Your Partner for

arbon fiber maker Zoltek Cos. Inc. agreed to pay $7.8 2015, Zoltek ... approved 13 spot purchases by Zoltek
Cmillion and settle its potential civil liability for 26 ZRT related to the purchase of 8,582.7 [metric] tons of Vacuum Solutions in
apparent U.S. trade sanction violations. Naftan-produced acrylonitrile from third-party trading
companies ... totaling $10,390,920."
Relying for years on advice from outside counsel
in Hungary, senior executives at Zoltek approved a In total, the sales conferred "$18 million to a Belarusian Plastics Processing
Hungarian subsidiary's purchases of the organic compound government entity," the settlement said. In the
acrylonitrile from a Belarus entity that was on the blocked manufacturing process, acrylonitrile is dissolved in organic
list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of or aqueous solvents, becomes a precursor and evolves into
Foreign Assets Control. Zoltek, now a subsidiary of Toray polyacrylonitrile on its way to making PAN-based carbon Busch is the leading manufacturer of vacuum generators for all applications in
Industries Incorpatoin is based in Bridgeton near St. Louis. fiber. The government said that Zoltek "acted with reckless plastics processing – from the stage of extracting the raw materials to processing
disregard for U.S. economic sanctions requirements and/
or failed to exercise a minimal degree of caution or care them into final plastic products.
in avoiding the conduct" and that multiple personnel at Rely on the trusted name for vacuum. Rely on Busch.
Zoltek and Zoltek ZRT "were aware of — and participated
in — the conduct that led to the apparent violations." For
those acts, the statutory maximum civil monetary penalty
amount was $37.8 million, and the base civil monetary
penalty amount was $12 million.

Adient to close Michigan unit
Nobuya Ando, as Zoltek CEO, chief operating officer
and president, accepted terms and signed the 11-page
agreement. The Treasury Department announced the he automotive seating and components manufacturer
settlement in December. The U.S. office said that Zoltek Tis to close a production plant located in Charlotte,
voluntarily self-disclosed the apparent violations with U.S, state of Michigan.According to local reports, 212
those occurring prior to February 2015 constituting a employees are to be laid off as from March 1. Formerly
non-egregious case and those after that month being owned by a plastics fabrication company, the plant was
an egregious case. The subsidiary in Nyergesújfalu, acquired by Adient
Hungary, operates as Zoltek Vegyipari Zártkörûen Mûködõ through its US$360
million purchase
Részvénytársaság, a private limited company. Zoltek ZRT of Futuris Group
began purchasing the chemical from the Polymir open in 2017, which
joint-stock company of Novopolotsk, Belarus, starting su pplies full
no later than Nov. 14, 2007, and continued through the seating systems,
time period of the apparent violations. Naftan open joint- seat frames, seat
stock company, also in Novopolotsk, acquired Polymir trim, headrests,
in December 2008, and was already under U.S. trade ar mr es ts and
sanctions as a wholly owned subsidiary of the government's seat bolsters.
Belarusian State Concern for Oil and Chemistry, known as According to a Company spokesperson, the Charlotte
Belneftekhim. plant's core capability concerns injection moulding,

"Between on or about Jan, 18, 2012, to on or about Oct. 27, “which is not part of Adient's core product portfolio”.
2015, Zoltek U.S. appears to have approved 26 purchases In June, Adient called off a US$100 million plan to move Busch Vacuum India Pvt Ltd.
of acrylonitrile ... between Zoltek ZRT and Naftan," the its headquarters to downtown Detroit. Allegedly, the +91 (0) 124 475 1300 | sales@buschindia.com
agreement said. "From Feb. 25, 2015 through Oct. 27, supplier has struggled to remain consistently profitable www.buschindia.com
since spinning off from Johnson Controls in 2016.

Plastics News Januar y 2019 14