Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1282640
5 INTERVIEW 27.08.2020 THE assets of an Istanbul-based ship- ping conglomerate that has been based in Malta for the last 20 years, are the subject of a massive asset freeze after owner Mübariz Mansimov, an Aze- ri-Turkish billionaire, was imprisoned over links to coup in Turkey. Mübariz Mansimov Gurbanoglu was arrested back in March over alleged Gulen links. He had based his shipping empire almost in entirety in Malta for its friendly tax laws for the maritime in- dustry. Mansimov was arrested in one of the highest-profile detentions of a crack- down against suspects linked to a net- work accused of carrying out an at- tempted coup in 2016. Chairman of the Istanbul-based Palmali group, which operates a fleet of freight vessels, the Turkish company's business was chiefly located in Malta. He was arrested over ties to the net- work of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen which President Tayyip Erdogan blames for the failed putsch in which about 250 people died. His Malta-resident companies are dozens of ships and major holding com- panies such as the Palmali International Holding Company, Palmali Interna- tional Holding Two, Palmali Logistics, Palocean Shipping, Paloffshore Oil Ser- vices, Palriver Shipping, Palsea Ship- ping, Tampal Trade, Pal Food, Palchem Holding, Palmali Dry Cargo, Palmali Voyager, Caspian Holding, Pal Air, Pal Gas Holdling, Barge Oil Services, GMM Shipping & Trading, and GMM Hold- ing. In May 2020, a High Court in Lon- don issued a worldwide freezing order against Palmali Holding Company, and specified that Mansimov and company secretary Joanne Spiteri would be held in contempt of the court if any assets are sold. Spiteri had already resigned her role as company secretary in April 2020. e injunction was filed by Sber- bank of Russia on all Malta companies, as well as some $261 million in assets that Mansimov holds in England. He was listed by Forbes as worth $1.3 billion in 2015, with interests in dairy products, media, resorts and planes, as well as having a fleet of oil tankers. But according to a MaltaFiles exposé in 2017, Mansimov's Pal Shipping was beneficially owned by the family of Re- cep Tayyip Erdoğan – Turkey's contro- versial prime minister at that time, and now its controversial president. e existence of the Erdoğans' off- shore network was first revealed by e Black Sea and its partners at the EIC network in May this year as part of its reporting on the #MaltaFiles. rough offshore companies in the Isle of Man and Malta, the Erdoğans se- cretly owned an oil tanker worth near- ly $25 million called the Agdash. e honour of footing the $25 million bill went to two businessmen from Turkey, according to EIC's investigation. One of them was Mansimov. ese secret mil- lions were transmitted from the Turk- ish HalkBank account of an Isle of Man shell company called Bellway Limited, to the Erdoğan clan between December 2011 and January 2012. Bellway was the 'ultimate controlling party' of Pal Ship- ping Trader One and the $25 million Agdash oil tanker, as well as two com- panies set up by the Erdoğan family in 2007 and 2008. Gulen coup Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied any involvement in the attempted coup. He was once an ally of Erdoğan but became his arch foe. Gulen's supporters have for years been accused by Ankara of establishing a "parallel state" by infiltrating the police, judiciary and other state institutions. About 80,000 people have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others sacked or suspended from their jobs since the coup attempt. Palmali Shipping was a major suppli- er of oil products until it was accused of violating sanctions on Iran and Syr- ia by U.S. authorities. Mansimov, once known for his ties to Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump, has been in jail since March 2020 over links to the Gülen movement, which Turkey blames for masterminding the failed putsch. Azerbaijani native Mansimov became a naturalised Turkish citizen in 2006 and took on the name Mübariz Gur- banoğlu. He founded the Palmali Group of Companies in Turkey in 1998. Billionaire's Malta assets under worldwide freezing order after Turkey coup arrest Mübariz Mansimov Gurbanoglu THE newly proposed Malta-Gozo ferry service is not what was promised in the Labour Party's electoral manifesto, the Nationalist Party said as it cast doubt on the transparency of the process. e PN was reacting to government's announcement a few weeks ago that it abandoned plans to have a fast ferry service linking Gozo with Valletta and was instead opting for a new service that linked multiple localities, including Gozo. e PN said that despite the decision being announced at the start of August, the government had yet to respond to appeals made by various sections of so- ciety, including Gozitan students, busi- nesses as well as the Opposition to rein- state the original plans. "In light of the information that has come out in public so far, Transport Minister Ian Borg and the one respon- sible for Gozo, Clint Camilleri, as well as Transport Malta and the Gozo Chan- nel have a lot to answer for. is is not only because the government deceived the people when it did not keep one of its main electoral promises, but also because there are suspicions of lack of transparency," the party said. Borg had revealed that a ferry service linking different locations in Malta and Gozo was considered more favourable than an isolated fast ferry link. e regulator justified the policy deci- sion to drop the fast ferry option, insist- ing that research-backed the choice of extended routes from Valletta, includ- ing one that links both islands. e PN has asked the government to come out with the real reason the fast ferry project was abandoned, as well as what studies have been done to justify the abandonment of the project and in- stead replacing it with a hop on hop off sea service. "Where have these studies been published if they have ever been conducted?" the party said. e PN also called the government to release information on how many stops there will be, as well as how frequent the service will run, and the cost. As well as how long it will take to travel by the pro- posed hop on hop off sea service instead of the fast ferry from Gozo to Valletta area and vice versa. Moreover, the party inquired whether it was true that the Request for Propos- als (RFP) issued by the government as regards the hop on hop off sea service, a restriction on competition was intro- duced by certain operators and if this restriction was introduced, why and who did it benefit. Revisions to proposed fast ferry service draw PN's ire Government proposal for a new ferry service between multiple points around Malta and Gozo will come at the expense of a fast ferry link linking Gozo to Valletta