US Penalizes Companies for Cuba Ties

HAVANA TIMES — The US government on Wednesday imposed a fine of $1.35 million on the Great Western Malting Company for doing business with Cuba, reported the Prensa Latina news agency.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the company for allowing the sale of malt barley to Cuba between August 2006 and March 2009.

According to OFAC, several transactions of that product were realized by the company with the Cuban government through a foreign subsidiary.

So far this year, OFAC and the US Commerce Department have fined three entities for failing to comply with the regulations of the blockade, with the $619 million fine in mid-June on the Dutch ING bank being the most onerous.