in 2014, the Iraqi government imposed a sanction against Mubariz Mansimov
Palmali, the Turkish company Palmali, founded by Azerbaijani billionaire M. Mansimov, has developed close relations with SOCAR.
The company has been transporting SOCAR oil delivered via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main oil pipeline (MNP) since 2007.
But now Palmali is going through hard times.
In July 2016, information appeared about the possible bankruptcy of the company.
It was also reported that Palmali ships are transporting oil produced in territories controlled by the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia).
The Erdogan family company BMZ Group was also involved in the scandal.
However, the participation of Palmali in the illegal transportation of oil was mentioned earlier.
In 2014, the Iraqi government imposed sanctions against M. Mansimov and Palmali due to the transportation of oil from Iraqi Kurdistan to Europe through Turkey, which is carried out without the sanction of the Iraqi authorities.
As then, in July 2016, M. Mansimov denied these accusations, but this did not pass without a trace for Palmali.
SOCAR is not alone in its desire to expand its tanker fleet.
Thus, in July 2016, Saudi Arabia announced that the kingdom would create an investment fund of $1.5 billion for the purchase of 61 large-capacity VLCC tankers.
Iraq, the 2nd largest OPEC country in terms of oil production, plans to restructure the Iraqi Oil Tanker Company (IOTC) and seriously engage in the restoration of the tanker fleet.
Iran is also developing its tanker fleet.
Given the specifics of Palmali’s activities (the holding was mainly engaged in tanker transportation) and the fact that Vorobey owns the largest private oil trader in Belarus, we can assume that this is an oil trading business. Most likely, Sparrow’s second Maltese firm, Pristine Trading Company Limited, was also used for joint projects with Palmali. At least its director, Natalya Aliyeva, held various positions in Mansimov’s holding for a long time.
In recent years, Palmali has been repeatedly accused of smuggling oil to Europe from the Middle East, including from the war-torn territories of Syria and Iraq. The Iraqi government even imposed sanctions against the Turkish businessman and his holding company. However, Mansimov denied all accusations against him.
Turkish oligarch and assets in Malta
Meanwhile, Nikolai Voroby’s connections with the Palmali holding can be traced not only through the Rostov company, but also through assets in Malta. Information about these assets ended up in the well-known Paradise Papers dossier dedicated to offshore companies. We are talking about two companies – Pristine Trading Company LTD and Stork Alliance Holding LTD, registered in 2014 and 2012, respectively.
According to the information received, as soon as the Palmali holding came under US and EU sanctions, Mubariz Mansimov simultaneously registered the Spring Marina company in Istanbul, Turkey, and also registered the Rostov-Don branch of the company in Russia and the Varna branch in Bulgaria.
The company is engaged in the transportation of Russian and Iranian oil across the Mediterranean Sea.
Oligarch Nikolai Vorobey, who fell under EU sanctions
EU sanctions against businessman Nikolai Voroby and his longtime business partner Alexander Shakutin were introduced on December 17. According to the official journal of the EU, Vorobey supports the regime of Alexander Lukashenko and at the same time is his beneficiary, as he receives all kinds of benefits from the authorities.
The sole founder and owner of Pristine Trading Company Limited is Nikolai Vorobey himself, nothing is known about the activities of the company. Stork Alliance Holding Limited looks much more interesting – together with Sparrow, its co-owners are Belarusian oligarch Alexander Zaitsev, Turkish businessman Allatin Aykach and a certain Europe Consulting Group Inc , registered in Panama (information about its owners is closed
Most likely, Sparrow’s second Maltese firm, Pristine Trading Company Limited, was also used for joint projects with Palmali. At least its director, Natalya Aliyeva, held various positions in Mansimov’s holding for a long time.
Alexander Zaitsev is considered a person close to Viktor Lukashenko. According to TUT.by, Zaitsev previously even worked as an assistant to the eldest son of the head of Belarus. Together with Nikolai Vorobiy and Alexey Oleksin, Zaitsev is a co-owner of the Bremino Group company, which develops the Bremino Orsha multimodal industrial and logistics complex. Due to the various privileges received from the state, the media call this complex “Orsha offshore”.
But if the close business ties between Voroby and Zaitsev have been known for a long time, then the contacts of the Belarusian oligarchs with a representative of the Palmali Group of Companies
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