Workers from Entekhab group held a demonstration at the South Korean embassy in protest over a stunted acquisition deal between the private Iranian company and Daewoo Electronics after Seoul laid down sanctions.
AFP reports around 1,000 workers gathered outside the embassy in Tehran seeking a refund out of the $70 million Entekhab – an appliance producer – paid the South Korean company in 2011. According to Entekhab spokesman Hamid Ghaznavi, the downpayment was part of a $518 million deal for the acquisition of South Korea’s Daewoo and was signed in November 2010. However, the deal reportedly came unstuck in September 2011, when Seoul imposed sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment program which Western nations claimed Tehran would use for producing weapons of mass destruction.
“When they told us that the deal will not go through due to the sanctions, we asked for a refund of our downpayment,” Mr. Ghaznavi told AFP. “But since 2011, they have been stalling and telling us that because of banking sanctions they are unable to pay us.”
An official at the South Korean embassy said he would relay the group’s demands to authorities in Seoul, Mr. Ghaznavi said. “We will come back again if our demand is not met, since the company’s 4,000 workers are affected by the cancellation of this deal.”
