Corruption seeps into natural gas
Posted by meb at February 22nd, 2008
The energy minister delayed a raid on the state-owned pipeline company BOTAŞ’s offices and forced the retirement of officials involved in a corruption case involving the company’s officials in the tender for the scheduled building of a natural gas depot under the Salt Lake in central Anatolia, according to an indictment prepared by an Ankara prosecutor.
Prosecutor Mehmet Tamöz briefed Energy Minister Hilmi Güler on the matter and was asked to delay the operation, the indictment said. The minister suspended all BOTAŞ officials involved and forced some to resign.
The indictment also includes film recordings of officials taking bribes from contractors who wanted to win the tender.
Güler’s move created concern in the Police Department and prosecutor’s office and some businessmen involved fled the country before the beginning of the operation.
The indictment shows a company giving a check for 100,000 euros to a civil servant acting as an intermediary for a top BOTAŞ official. The intermediary was filmed going to a bank to cash the check and then going to an exchange bureau to change the euros to dollars.
The company later won the tender, and photos and notes are presented in the indictment.
Bank accounts and assets of some BOTAŞ officials showed they lived very luxurious lifestyles, the indictment said. One official had $1.5 million in his bank account, and others had luxury cars and villas, Tamöz said, asking the court to seize the assets of these officials.
The police also taped the exchanges of bribes worth $300,000 for the Turkey-Greece Natural Gas Pipeline tender and worth $500,000 for the Çanakkale Çan Thermal Plant tender.
Pending their trials for corruption, 26 BOTAŞ officials were arrested earlier this month.
Source: Turkish Daily News
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