Washington - The US Department of
Commerce will remove Chinese telecommunications equipment maker
ZTE from a trade blacklist on Wednesday after
the company pleaded guilty to violating sanctions on Iran and
agreed to pay nearly $900 million, the agency said in a notice.
Removal from the list marks the end of a tense period for
ZTE, which faced trade restrictions that could have severed its
ties to critical US suppliers.
"By acknowledging the mistakes we made, taking
responsibility for them ... we are committed to a ZTE that is
fully compliant, healthy and trustworthy," said ZTE CEO Zhao Xianming said in an emailed statement.
Last year, the US Commerce Department placed export
restrictions on ZTE as punishment for violating US sanctions
against Iran. The restrictions would have prevented restricted
suppliers from providing ZTE any US-made equipment,
potentially freezing the Chinese handset maker's supply chain.
Over the past 12 months, as ZTE cooperated with US authorities, the US Commerce Department temporarily suspended
the trade restrictions with a series of three-month reprieves,
allowing the company to maintain ties to US suppliers.
Earlier this month, ZTE agreed to pay a total of $892.4
million and pleaded guilty to violating US sanctions by
sending American-made technology to Iran and lying to
investigators.
The Commerce Department said on Tuesday it would impose
severe restrictions on former ZTE CEO Shi Lirong, whom the
agency accused of approving efforts to skirt sanctions and ship
equipment to Iran.
Read also: ZTE to plead guilty to evading US sanctions on Iran, N.Korea
The Commerce Department said Shi approved a systematic,
written business plan to use shell companies to secretly export
US technology to Iran. Reuters could not immediately reach Shi
for comment.
The US investigation followed reports by Reuters in 2012
that ZTE had signed contracts with Iran to ship millions of
dollars' worth of hardware and software from some of America's
best-known technology companies.
US authorities have said the size of the financial penalty
against ZTE also reflects the fact that the company lied to
investigators when executives were approached about the
allegations.
As part of the deal, ZTE will be under probation for three
years and agreed to cooperate in the continuing investigation.