US sanctions tobacco firm for supporting Paraguay’s former president

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Treasury Department said Tuesday that it imposed sanctions on Paraguayan tobacco company Tabacalera del Este S.A. (Tabesa) for providing financial support to Paraguay’s former president.

Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara was sanctioned by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Jan. 26, 2023 for his involvement in corruption, it said in a statement.

OFAC, in addition, previously identified Tabesa on its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List as an entity in which Cartes owned, directly or indirectly, a 50% or greater interest, it said.

"While Cartes no longer owns Tabesa following a sales agreement to acquire Cartes’s shares in the company, Tabesa has made—and plans to continue making—payments worth millions of dollars to Cartes, despite Cartes’s designation by OFAC," it added.

The Treasury Department said Tabesa is being designated for having materially assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support for or goods or services to or in support of Cartes.