Turkish entrepreneur Adnan Polat has sued major Air Albania shareholder Sinan Idrizi for financial fraud.
According to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, former Galatasaray President Polat has sued Idrizi for refusing to return a $3.5 million deposit for the purchase of an Albanian oil company that never took place.
Polat met Idrizi in 2016, when the latter promised to help him purchase Global Fluids International, an Albanian oil company that specialized in marking and monitoring fossil fuels.
Idrizi told Polat the company would sell for $17 million, and asked for a $3.5 million deposit that would be returned to Polat should the sale fall through.
Following the preparation of a draft-contract, Idrizi asked Polat to give him the deposit money as a trustee, so he could pass it on to the company, thus avoiding banks. Polat sent the money in November 2016.
Idrizi attempted to stall on the purchase by telling Polat that the company would be sold after the elections that would take place in Albania in 2017.
However, the sale did not take place even after the elections. When Polat asked for his $3.5 million deposit back, Idrizi refused to return the money.
Thus, Polati filed a lawsuit with the Istanbul Prosecution Office, who has begun investigating the case.
Sinan Idrizi
Until 2018, Sinan Idrizi was not well-known to the public. He had no financial activities registered under his name in Albania and has not claimed to have owned any businesses overseas. He has occasionally mentioned having business connections in Turkey, where he lived for a number of years until he returned to Albania in 2014, but gave no details.
The only thing known about him is that, since 2014, he is one of the owners of the Albanian Flamurtari Football Club. However, it is not clear where the money he finances Flamurtari with is coming from. In the capacity of President of Flamurtari FC, he was banned in 2018 by the Albanian Football Federation from participating in sporting activities for 16 months, for having assaulted a referee.
Out of nowhere, in 2018, he became one of Air Albania’s shareholders, alongside Albcontrol and Turkish Airlines.
GFI Albania
GFI Albania is a concessionary company specialized in marking and monitoring fossil fuels in Albania. In 2011, it was awarded a 10-year tender to mark fossil fuels, and began its activity in 2013.
According to OraNews, wholesale merchants pay GFI 5 euros (614 ALL) plus tax, per thousand litre of oil.
The cost of this concession falls entirely on Albanian consumers, who pay an added cost of approximately 10 million euros in tax.
