TIRANA, April 7 – The massive leak of the so-called Panama Papers could stir up a storm in Albania as the first shareholders in a major concessionaire have been unveiled in the tax haven.
Two companies, three beneficiaries and 22 shareholders in Albania have been unveiled in a huge leak of confidential documents from one of the world’s most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, with the massive leak dubbed the Panama Papers. Among them is also Global Fluids International, Albania’s fuel marking concessionaire, owned by an Israeli and Albanian businessman.
Israeli news agency Haaretz reported Israeli attorney Assaf Halkin and Albanian businessman Ismail Mulati, locally known as Ismail Mulleti, as being behind the GFI Albania.
“Another business that Halkin established abroad is GFI Technologies. It was registered in May 2013 in the island of Anguilla in order to invest in Albanian high-tech companies. According to records, Halkin, an Albanian citizen named Ismail Mulleti and a Canadian firm called Global Fluids International S.A. are the company’s owners, Haaretz says.
Halkin did not respond to an inquiry by Haaretz regarding what kinds of investments the company made, if any, but commented that the goal of the company is ‘selling fuel technology.’ He told the Israeli news agency that ‘all of the Israeli shareholders’ revenue is reported to Israeli tax authorities.”
Albanian Ismail Mulleti is known as a real estate developer in Albania in the 1990s.
Data from Albania’s National Registration Centre shows Ismail Mulleti is a shareholder in three other companies operating in Albania. In one company, the IMAH 2014, both Mulleti and Israeli businessman and lawyer Assaf Halkin have a 45 percent stake each. The trade, consultancy and security company reported modest income of 9.6 million lek (about €69,000) in 2014 and earnings before tax of 6.7 million lek (€48,000). Mulleti also holds a 50 percent stake in Egnatia Export-Import and fully-owns the Gravitas Albania Partners consultancy.
GFI, a subsidiary of Canada-based Eurocontrol Technics Group, started its 10-year €150 mln national fuel marking and tracing contract in Albania in Sept. 2013 in partnership with Switzerland-based Petroleum Consulting Partners, which initially held a 25 percent stake but controversially became the sole shareholder in the concession in late 2015.
In a statement, the GFI Albania described allegations of suspicious transfers of €400,000 and 500,000 to tax havens as ill-intentioned speculation. The company says it helped the Albanian government increase its revenue by $60 million in 2015 by helping fight smuggling and tax evasion in the oil sector and that its total turnover in 2013-2015 has been only €6 million.
Last December, Albania’s oil supply risked a blockade after Global Fluids International, the fuel marking concessionaire, stopped its operations for one day claiming the Albanian government had failed to meet contractual obligations over crude oil marking and monitoring, the majority of which is produced in Albania and destined for export.
Back in March 2014, Albania’s Constitutional Court turned down a request by the Association of Fuel Companies requesting the cancellation of a fuel marking concession awarded to the private company over an alleged monopoly situation violating competition and creating a dominant market position.
The concessionaire charges 0.74 lek (€0.005)/litre for fuel marking in Albania. The concession was awarded in an effort to strengthen monitoring of the market which has often abused consumers with quality and quantity. With an annual turnover of 800-900 million Euros, the fuel market is one of the biggest industries in the country and has a direct impact on all sectors of the economy.
Probe, legal changes initiated
The country’s General Prosecutor’s Office and the Financial Intelligence Unit have launched an investigation into the case while the Justice Ministry announced an initiative for legal changes that will make the disclosure of shareholders in off-shore companies investing in Albania possible.
Justice Minister Ylli Manjani said Albania will use the German model in this respect.
“Every company investing in Albania will first have to disclose its investors. We have already started working on the legal changes,” said Manjani.
Central bank governor Gent Sejko assured the country’s banking system has not been involved in the Panama Papers scandal.
“We have no information that the Albanian financial sector has been involved in such a scandal, we have every financial reports on banks and their customers,” said Sejko.
Former Prime Minister Sali Berisha has denied media allegations linking him to businessman Ismail Mulleti.
“This contract was signed with Canadian company Global Fluid International and an Israeli shareholder and the Constitutional Court has given constitutional power to this contract. It is Global Fluid’s business if it has accepted this company” said Berisha, who in March 2013 was in office as the country’s Prime Minister when the concession contract was signed.
Former intelligence service chief Fatos Klosi says Cyprus has been the tax haven for dozens of Albanian politicians, senior officials and businessmen since the early 2000s.
“Intelligent services are blocked as long as government officials are involved,” said Klosi referring to information provided by American intelligence services in 2001 of alleged Albanian politicians hiding money in Cyprus.
The Panama Papers have shown 12 current or former heads of state and at least 60 people linked to current or former world leaders in the data. The files show how Mossack Fonseca clients were able to launder money, dodge sanctions and avoid tax.
Albania law enforcement institutions seized around €16 million in 2015 in transfers suspected of money laundering, according to a report by the Albanian Financial Intelligence Unit. Some €11 million was seized under court decisions. The agency said it received some 1,319 suspicious activity reports in 2015, up 7 percent compared to 2014, mainly from banks and money transfer agencies. Albania seized a total of around 5 billion lek (€35.5 mln) in suspected money laundering transfers during the 2009-2015 period, the majority of which in the past couple of years.
Panama Papers in the Balkans
The massive leak of documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, has also named people and companies across the Balkans, BalkanInsight agency report.
Serbia’s network for research on organised crime and corruption, KRIK, has released a list of Serbian citizens named in the leaked files. Among them are businessmen Srdjan Saper, Zoran Drakulic, Miodrag Kostic and others.
In Bulgaria, the names of several companies and individuals were found in the leaks, but no records implicate politicians as of yet, the daily 24 Chasa reported.
At least 13 companies, two clients, two or three beneficiaries and 16 shareholders from Montenegro are named in the papers, according to an interactive map published by the Irish Times.
Three Croatian companies are allegedly mentioned in the documents. Romania’s Rosia Montana gold mining project and the controversial privatizations of the Rafo refinery and Alro aluminum producer are mentioned in the Panama Papers, according to the independent journalism website Rise Project, which has been collaborating with the international investigation.
First victim
Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson stepped down this week after the documents showed he owned an offshore company with his wife but had not declared it when he entered parliament. He became the first political victim of the Panama Papers of a mushrooming world-wide scandal over hidden offshore financial dealings exposed in the so-called Panama Papers.
Tax haven Panama has announced it is creating an international panel to help improve transparency in its offshore financial industry. President Juan Carlos Varela said Panama would work with other countries over the revelations.
“The Panamanian government, via our foreign ministry, will create an independent commission of domestic and international experts,” he said in a televised address.
The revelations have already sparked political reaction in several countries where high-profile figures have been implicated.
Key findings: The Panama Papers by the numbers
According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the secret files:
- Include 11.5 million records, dating back nearly 40 years – making it the largest leak in offshore history. Contains details on more than 214,000 offshore entities connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories. Company owners including billionaires, sports stars, drug smugglers and fraudsters.
- Reveal the offshore holdings 140 politicians and public officials around the world – including 12 current and former world leaders. Among them: the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia.
- Document some $2 billion in transactions secretly shuffled through banks and shadow companies by associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Include the names of at least 33 people and companies blacklisted by the U.S. government because of evidence that they’d been involved in wrongdoing, such as doing business with Mexican drug lords, terrorist organizations like Hezbollah or nations like North Korea and Iran.
- Show how major banks have driven the creation of hard-to-trace companies in offshore havens. More than 500 banks their subsidiaries and their branches – including HSBC, UBS and Socià©tà© Gà©nà©rale – created more than 15,000 offshore companies for their customers through Mossack Fonseca.
