THE United States has banned five Malaysian companies for breaching sanctions against trading with Iran and Russia.

The Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) said the companies that have been barred since December 2023 are Skyline Advanced Technologies Sdn Bhd, Nava Hobbies Sdn Bhd, Integrated Scientific Microwave Technology Sdn Bhd, Arta Wave Sdn Bhd, and Jatronics Sdn Bhd.

The ministry said the ban will not affect the overall value of Malaysian exports.

The implications are individual in nature, in terms of the companies’ loss of access to US-based financial, trading, and services systems, it said on the parliament website.

“None of the trading companies is registered with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority for any manufacturing licence or incentive. This means they are traders rather than manufacturers,” it said.

Earlier, Ronald Kiandee (Beluran-Perikatan Nasional) had asked Miti to list the companies sanctioned by the US and to state the effect on national exports.

Miti said the US suspects five Malaysian companies of conducting trading activities, supplying goods, and providing supplies, including facilitating the transfer of strategic materials, components, and technologies, for Iran’s weapons programme or to the Russian armed forces.

Miti said it was in touch with the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur for further information on the ban. It said it was also consulting a US law firm on how to remove the companies from the blacklist.

The ministry said it was also working with Bank Negara Malaysia for its view on the financial implications for the companies that have been sanctioned. 

In reply to a question from Lim Lip Eng (Kepong-Pakatan Harapan), who wanted to know the status of the probe into Jatronics and the government’s follow-up action, Miti said it has met with the company directors to get a true picture of the situation.

“Jatronics informed that most of its export activities involve integrated circuits goods exports, especially to Russia,” it said. – July 18, 2024.