Albania charges Turkish steelmaker Kurum with fraud

TIRANA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Albanian prosecutors on Wednesday charged Turkish steelmaker Kurum International and two of its managers with fraud and money laundering, accusing them of a fake VAT reimbursement scam.

Kurum filed for bankruptcy in March 2016.

Albania's general attorney's office said it had been investigating since 2015 two Kurum executives, who hold both Turkish and Albanian citizenship, for alleged fraud in 2011 and 2012.

Kurum started operating in Albania in the late 1990s, using electric arc furnaces to produce steel by melting scrap iron and selling its steel in Albania and the Balkans.

The prosecutors allege Koray Zeitinoglu and Yücel Aksu, respectively the manager and purchasing director for Kurum, "created and implemented a scam to buy scrap iron".

"The investigation has shown that the tax receipts of scrap purchases by Kurum International from four companies have been forged because these firms never dealt in scrap iron," they said.

"On the basis of these forged documents Kurum International has gained in breach of the law from the VAT reimbursement," they added, without saying how much money was at stake.

Kurum and the executives could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by Benet Koleka; Editing by Mark Potter)

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