Portugal's largest private bank offered to inform the United States about Iranian financial activities in exchange for being allowed to do business inIran, according to diplomat cables published Monday. Representatives of the Millennium BCP bank visited Tehran in 2009 to explore possible co-operation with the Iranian banking sector, say the secret US diplomatic documents obtained by WikiLeaks.
The whistleblower website gave the documents to Spanish daily El Pais. BCP was interested in business and trading opportunities inIran, but worried about US retaliation if it went ahead, according to the daily, as Washington is pushing economic sanctions. The bank's chairman, Carlos Santos Ferreira, made his offer to US diplomats in Lisbon, the cables say.
BCPMillennium declined to comment on the report. The diplomats who wrote the documents believed that Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and other cabinet members were aware of the offer. Socrates, however, denied any knowledge about the proposed deal.
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