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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2013
Phone: (212) 554-3296
UANI Applauds Grant Thornton, RSM, Crowe Horwath for Ending Business in Iran
Accounting Campaign Successful; All Three Firms Contacted by UANI Pull Out of Iran
UANI is pleased to announce that Grant Thornton, a prominent U.K.-based global accounting network, has this month taken the responsible action of terminating its relationship with the Iranian firm Rymand & Co. In discussions with UANI, Grant Thornton pledged that it will do no future business in Iran until the Iranian regime stops sponsoring terrorists and ends its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Said Ed Nusbaum, CEO of Grant Thornton International, in a statement to UANI:
We appreciate UANI bringing the issue to our attention and support them in their mission.
Said UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace:
We applaud Grant Thornton for ending its business in Iran. Grant Thornton contacted us immediately after the launch of our campaign, and made it clear that it wanted to do the right thing and end any Iran exposure. We are proud to have worked with Mr. Nusbaum and Grant Thornton on this matter, and thank Grant Thornton for its responsible action.
UANI has also received positive responses from the U.K.'s RSM and the U.S.'s Crowe Horwath. Both stated that they would end their relationships with their respective partner Iranian firms, Dayarayan Auditing & Financial Services and Hoshiyar/Behmand & Co.
RSM informed UANI that it "has, in the circumstances, agreed with Dayarayan that the existing relationship will end on 30 April."
Crowe Horwath stated that it "has commenced the process of terminating its relationship with the Hoshiyar firm in accordance with the terms of our network's by-laws and agreement of association."
Said Ambassador Wallace:
We also applaud RSM and Crowe Horwath for ending their Iran exposure, and we will list them as withdrawn from the country. The success of this campaign underscores the fiduciary risks of doing business in Iran. If Iran is too risky for the world's leading accounting firms, then all businesses have a duty to disclose any and all Iran work to shareholders, investors, and regulators -- and make plans to leave. Anything less is irresponsible and a failure to disclose material information under relevant law.
UANI launched the Accounting Campaign last month, highlighting the practices of international accounting networks and associations that maintain member or correspondent firms in Iran. The campaign has been reported by the Daily Telegraph and Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal.
The campaign is an extension of UANI's successful 2010 campaign towards three of the "Big Four" accounting firms reportedly active Iran. In response to UANI's campaign, KPMG severed ties with its Iranian member firm, and PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young informed UANI that they had previously discontinued business relationships in Iran.
Click here to read UANI's letter to Grant Thornton.
Click here to read UANI's letter to RSM.
Click here to read UANI's letter to Crowe Horwath.
Click here to learn more about UANI's Accounting Campaign.
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United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace.
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.
The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran
- Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad;
- Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world;
- Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran;
- Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies;
- Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and;
- Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures.
UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country. |
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