WASHINGTON: A US businessman has pleaded guilty to exporting products without a licence to atomic and space agencies in Pakistan, violating US federal laws. Imran Khan, 43, faces up to 20 years in prison.

US Attorney for the District of Connecticut Deirdre Daly said that Khan, a resident of North Haven, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty on Saturday in a Hartford federal court to violating US export law.

Court documents and statements show that from 2012 to December 2016, Khan and others were engaged in a scheme to purchase goods that were controlled under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and exported them without a licence to Pakistan, in violation of the EAR.

Suspect Imran Khan faces up to 20 years in prison

Khan conducted business as Brush Locker Tools or as Kauser Enterprises-USA.

When asked by the US manufacturers about the end-user for a product, Khan either informed them that the product would remain in the US, or he completed an end-user certification indicating that the product would not be exported.

After the products were purchased, they were shipped by the manufacturer to Khan’s North Haven residence in Connecticut or to a business owned by him.

“The products were then shipped to Pakistan on behalf of either the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) or the National Institute of Lasers and Optronics (Nilop),” the US Justice Department said. All these organisations listed on the US Department of Commerce Entity List, it added.

“The illegal exportation of sensitive technology to prohibited entities such as PAEC, Suparco and Nilop, poses a significant threat to our national security,” said Leigh-Alistair Barzey, special agent in-charge of the Defence Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Northeast Field Office.

The Justice Department said that Khan never obtained a licence to export any item to the designated entity even though he knew that a licence was required prior to export.

Khan pleaded guilty to one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

He admitted that between August 2012 and January 2013, he procured, received and exported to the PAEC an “Alpha Duo Spectrometer” without a licence to do so.

Khan is scheduled to be sentenced by US District Judge Vanessa Bryant in August 2017, at which time he faces a maximum prison term of 20 years.

He has been released on a $100,000 bond since he was arrested in December last year.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2017