Turkish Media Tycoon, Bank Chairman Charged in Fuel-Smuggling Case
March 23 2016 - 2:57PM
Dow Jones News
By Yeliz Candemir
ISTANBUL--A court in Istanbul has accepted a prosecutor's
indictment accusing a Turkish media tycoon and the chairman of
Turkey's largest publicly traded bank of involvement in fuel
smuggling, the state-run Anadolu news agency said Wednesday.
The indictment charges 47 defendants--including Aydin Dogan, the
founder and owner of Dogan Holding AS, a Turkish conglomerate with
investments from media to energy, and Ersin Ozince, chairman of
Turkiye Is Bankasi AS--with organized fuel smuggling between 2001
and 2008 when their companies were stakeholders in Petrol Ofisi,
which is now known as OMV Petrol Ofisi AS, according to
Anadolu.
Dogan Holding and Isbank were stakeholders in the Istanbul-based
fuel and oil products retailer until the Austrian gas and oil
company OMV AG bought the company in 2010.
The prosecutor seeks jail terms of 8 1/2 to 24 1/2 years for Mr.
Dogan and Mr. Ozince on the charges of establishing an organization
for the purpose of criminal activity and violating the
anti-smuggling law, according to Anadolu.
The first hearing in the case is scheduled for July 13.
Dogan Holding, in a statement, said that all the allegations
were "baseless" and "slander."
"We are strongly confident that the judicial process will prove
that there is no legal ground of allegations regarding the Bank's
Chairman and managers, and necessary legal actions will be taken to
protect the legal rights of our Bank, the Chairman and managers of
our Bank," Isbank said Wednesday in a statement to the stock
exchange.
Dogan Holding shares fell 3.6% and Isbank shares were down 3.3%
on Wednesday, while Turkey's main BIST-100 stock index closed 1.7%
lower.
In 2009, Dogan Holding was fined 4.8 billion Turkish lira ($1.66
billion) on a charge related to tax irregularities. Mr. Dogan at
the time said the charge was politically motivated, but the Finance
Ministry refuted the allegation.
For most of the AKP's nearly 14 years in power, the party has
"been mindful of not crossing certain red lines" that would send a
message that it interferes in Turkey's business environment, said
Tim Ash, an emerging-markets economist at Nomura in London. "I
think this case will be closely monitored in terms of the strength
of the case and the fairness of the legal process involved."
Write to Yeliz Candemir at yeliz.candemir@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2016 14:42 ET (18:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Turkiye IS Bankasi AS C (PK) (USOTC:TYABY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2024 to Dec 2024
Turkiye IS Bankasi AS C (PK) (USOTC:TYABY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Dec 2023 to Dec 2024
