Rezart Thaci, family members and associates face charges of tax evasion, marking latest case in string of charges since new government took power
TIRANA, Dec. 24 – Rezart Taci, the owner of the largest fuel distribution company in the country, will face charges of tax evasion, the interior ministry said.
Several of Taci’s family members and associates have also been named by authorities in the charges filed by government officials.
The Interior Ministry said it had sent a file and asked prosecutor’s office to start the penal proceedings against Taci and several associates following a two-month investigation that found that several companies Taci, family members and associates ran had improperly transferred funds among them and were liable for $15 million in taxes.
Taci, owner of formerly state-owned ARMO Oil Company, has made many efforts to also get involved other big businesses. He was declared to be the winner of the failed government tender to privatize oil producer Albpetrol but the move was later suspended and canceled after authorities did not get the guaranteed funds. He also owns several other companies, including the Albanian Screen television station.
Taci told local media he would deal with the charges in court and would not leave the country has some media had speculated.
Authorities said they that people related to Taci, immediate family members or associates, registered a number of companies with the business registrar and the tax office without claiming any commercial activity but rather aiming to produce fake documentation of business activities.
Taci’s case is the latest in a string of charges laid out by the incoming government.
Earlier this year, after the new Socialist-led government came to power, eight officials from the Tirana tax office were arrested for being part of another fraudulent scheme that cost the state millions of euros, according the authorities.
On Tuesday, prosecutor’s office in the northeastern district of Kukes announced that it would take to the court 25 persons accused of deceit, falsifying documentation and hiding income. They had caused the authorities a damage of 2.5 million euro through tax evasion.
While in another case two drug store owners and a nurse were arrested and accused of selling hospital medicine at a time when the hospital itself has been lacking so many of them.
