Alwaght-Turkish President's family reportedly own a multi-million dollar oil tanker, which was acquired under a secretive offshore arrangement, a consortium of European news outlets reported on Friday.
European Investigative Collaboration (EIC), a cooperative initiative in investigative journalism, reported on 19 May an investigation called the "Malta files," delving into more than 150,000 documents from the Mediterranean tax haven, according to Middle East Eye news website.
According to Friday's report, Recep Tayyip Erdogan family became owners of a $29.64-oil tanker called Agdash through companies registered in Malta and on the Isle of Man, a UK tax haven.
A quarter of the finance of the 13,000-tonne vessel was provided by Sitki Ayan, a Turkish businessman who is a friend of the Erdogan family, and three-quarters by a Turkish-Azeri billionaire, Mubariz Mansimov, who owns the Istanbul-headquartered transport group Palmali, the report said.
According to the Intercept, Mansimov became a Turkish citizen two years earlier and adopted a Turkish name, Mübariz Gurbanoglu, allegedly at Erdogan’s suggestion. After the deal was struck, his business dealings in Turkey took off, including lucrative contracts with state firms.
Mansimov is also a friend of Donald Trump and attended his presidential inauguration. “When the 39 floors of residential and office block Trump Towers opened in Istanbul in 2009, Mansimov was the first customer — buying eight apartments, including the penthouse,” according to the Black Sea.
According to The Intercept news organization Mansimov purchased a ship and opened a Maltese holding company for it in 2007. In October 2008, another company registered in the Isle of Man that belonged to Erdogan’s brother-in-law and his son purchased all shares for $25 million. The next day, that firm took out a $18.4 million loan arranged by Mansimov. Normal, so far. However, documents show that Mansimov pledged to pay off the entire seven-year loan plus interest in exchange for leasing rights through 2015 (the remaining $7 million of the purchase price was paid by a close personal friend of Erdogan for reasons unknown). Mansimov’s company, which controls two-thirds of Black Sea oil shipping, extended the leasing option through 2020 for $1.2 million a year. All told, the deal amounts to a $21.2 million cash transfer from Mansimov to Erdogan’s family. Despite having supposedly sold the ship to the close friend who paid $7 million in 2011, in three instances since then, Erdogan’s brother-in-law signed documents attesting to be the “sole beneficial owner” of the tanker.
