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Törnqvist has met at least 3 times secretly with Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana, precisely at the time when the company was bribing the government officials of similar countries like Albania, not only in Latin America, but also in Africa.
Gunvor Group Ltd., one of the world's top oil traders, agreed to pay more than $660 million to settle U.S. and Swiss allegations that the company paid bribes to Ecuadorian government officials over oil contracts. The news was made public by Bloomberg.
The penalty, which is one of the largest ever imposed on a commodity trading company, will consist of a $374.5 million fine and forfeiture of another $287.1 million, US federal prosecutors said at a court hearing in Brooklyn. New York, Friday. Of the amount, about 93 million dollars will go to the settlement of the Swiss case.
Jean-Baptiste Leclercq, a member of Gunvor's General Counsel, told U.S. District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano that the company admitted to paying bribes from 2011 to 2020. Under the agreement with the U.S., federal prosecutors said Gunvor's plea had to do with the behavior of ex-trader Raymond Koh and two men who worked as brokers. Kohut pleaded guilty to US charges in 2021, admitting to paying more than $22 million in bribes for oil contracts from 2012 to 2020.
"As a company Gunvor made mistakes at the time, which we regret and have worked diligently to fix," Gunvor Group chairman and majority owner Torbjörn Törnqvist said in a statement. "Corruption has no place in our company and will never be tolerated."
Secret meetings with Rama
In November 2017, Prime Minister Edi Rama held a secret meeting in the Prime Minister's Office with the owner of Gunvor, Torbjörn Törnqvist. Although the meeting was kept secret, the news was published by Syri.net. Then, Prime Minister Rama publicly admitted on the show Studio e Hapur on Neës 24 that he had met Törnqvist and had talked with him about ARMO, but also about the concession of Pato Marinza.
Kapitali.al confirms that Törnqvist has met at least 3 times secretly with Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana, precisely during the time when the company was bribing government officials of similar countries such as Albania, not only in Latin America, but also in Africa . In 2019, Gunvor agreed to pay $95 million to end another investigation in Switzerland that found the company had paid bribes to Congolese government officials to gain oil contracts.
Although formally the plan for Gunvor to take over ARMO and Pato Marinza's field was never realized, the money moved.
Doubtful transfer for ARMO
Tosk Energji is a company registered in Albania with administrator Blerim Hoxha, a Kosovar businessman, who lives in Switzerland. Tosk shares are owned by CFD Conseils Sarl, a Swiss company registered in the canton of Geneva, owned by Christophe Darbord. Tosk Energy was the main broker of ARMO's relaunch through Gunvor's money.
In October 2016, the Directorate of Prevention of Money Laundering blocked a suspicious transfer of 18.5 million dollars from Gunvor to the company Tosk Energji. Gunvor was blacklisted by the US government at the time, as it was suspected that some of its shares were owned directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The transfer, which was made through Reiffeisen bank, alerted the money laundering prevention authority, as it posed a high risk. But after several days of blocking, the 18.5 million dollars were unblocked to be transferred to Tosk Energji's account. The money was used to restart ARMO with the blessing of the Albanian government.
Tosk Energy paid $18.5 million in advance to Bankers to supply the refinery with crude oil. In return, Tosk Energy received the retailing of the fuel produced by IRTC at ARMO's refinery.
The Albanian government was fully aware of the entire operation. Although Gunvor was blacklisted by the US government as a company linked to Russian President Putin, it was allowed to invest in Albania. Even taking one of the most strategic sectors of the economy, the oil refining monopoly. The reinstatement of ARMO later turned into an operation with serious consequences for the budget, as over hundreds of millions of euros in taxes were avoided through it. From October 2016 to October 2017, IRTC produced through ARMO about 160 thousand tons of fuel that was sold to the domestic market through IRTC and Tosk Energji.
Involvement in the incinerator
At the end of last year, the people of Tosk Energji suddenly appeared at the Tirana incinerator. According to a 2022 agreement, a company called Icare Holding had become the owner of 40 percent of the shares of the Tirana incinerator, after having undertaken to provide the money for its construction.
Icare is a company registered in Switzerland with owner, Max Abitbol. In Albania, it owns the Icare Energji branch, whose administrator is the citizen Marigona Metaj, and members of the Supervisory Council, Blerim Hoxha and Joel Jacques Jean Chevallaz. All three of them were part of the management staff of Tosk Energji, when it used ARMO and was financed by Gunvor.
Blerim Hoxha was mentioned by former deputy prime minister Arben Ahmetaj in his interview for çim Peka. "The owner of 40 percent of the incinerator is already Kosovar businessman Blerim Hoxha. Investigate this person. He was in Albania earlier, he took over the ARMO oil company, sold oil, sold scrap. Look at who he worked with and who created the accesses", stated Ahmetaj.
But immediately after this interview, Mr. Hoxha reacted. He said that the Icare Holding company is not the owner of 40 percent of the shares of the incinerator, since the agreement to find money for its construction was not finalized. According to Hoxha, after Icare failed to find the money, she returned the shares of Geogenix to the Franco Tossi company.
However, for the opposition, the facts are clear. "Icare Groupt is a company that includes three individuals who are Marigona Metaj, Blerim Hoxha and Christof Dagbord and the latter are involved in the ARMO refinery and sent it for scrap. Metaj and Dagbord own the companies Tosk Energy and Bylis Energy which are financed by Russian companies blacklisted by the US. Tirana's incinerator is financed by a Russian company, so Russian money comes in," Belind Kelliçi declared a few days ago. / Kapitali
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