Redington Gulf

Redington Gulf, one of the leading IT distributors and supply chain solutions providers in Middle East and Africa, strongly reacted to media reports about HP violating US trade sanctions by using Redington as a vehicle to sell printing products in Iran. An article published by The Boston Globe identified Redington as a sales channel for HP printers in Iran and quoted a US Treasury Department official as saying US companies are prohibited from selling goods to a distributor if they know the products are intended for Iran.

Clarifying Redingtons position on this issue, Mr. Raj Shankar, CEO, Redington Gulf, said, "Redington is an authorised distributor of HP. We sell authorized products, to HP authorized customers, in authorized territories, in line with HPs policy guidelines. We have an authorised contract with HP that permits the sale of certain printer lines and supplies to approved Iranian customers. We have a separate contract for Iran and we are allowed to sell a certain type of products, which they classify as EAR99. Under the terms of the contract, Redington is authorised to fulfil and execute sales of specific printer lines to approved Iranian customers in Jebel Ali or the UAE, he explained. (Middle East Company News Wire, Redington Gulf strongly reacts to misleading reports, January 20, 2009)

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Hewlett-Packard Co. said late Thursday that it would stop a distributor from selling its products in Iran. The computer and printer maker acknowledged that it knew the sales were occurring despite trade sanctions on Iran, but maintained it did nothing illegal and was halting the practice to go beyond the letter of the law. The Boston Globe reported last week that HP could be in violation of U.S. export laws because of an arrangement it had with Redington Gulf, a technology distributor in the Middle East, to sell HP printers in Iran. (Associated Press, HP says it will stop distributors sales in Iran,  January 8, 2009)

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HP printers have become a top seller here, despite a comprehensive embargo that prohibits the California-based company from sending its products to Iran the lions share of HP printers, among the most visible of US goods here, come not through smugglers, but through a series of international transactions that enable HP to sidestep US sanctions. In 1997, two years after President Clinton banned trade with Iran, HP struck a partnership with a newly formed company in Dubai to sell its products in the Middle East. At the time, the company, called Redington Gulf, had only three employees and its sole purpose was to sell HP supplies to the Iran market, says a history on Redington Gulfs website and Rajesh Chandragiri, the administrative manager in Redington Gulfs Dubai office. (Boston Globe, "HP uses third party to sell printers in Iran," December 29, 2008)