Billions from smuggling: Alkagesta suspected of selling Libyan oil with Turkish fake documents
In 2022, while investigating locally-based companies that might have been violating sanctions, Alkagesta appeared on my list. This Azerbaijani-owned firm, a commodity trader headquartered in Malta, operates in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and even Georgia. Our inquiry did not uncover any wrongdoing. That year, the company generated approximately €2.1 billion in revenue and about €40 million in profit. One of their most actively traded commodities is oil, which they sell through various channels from Malta, in addition to currently leasing oil storage facilities in Delimara for bunkering purposes.
Last year, Alkagesta was the subject of an independent Turkish investigation about oil smuggling. The investigation cited an invoice from a crude oil tanker called MT Tony which described a sale of oil that was loaded from Malta, specifically in “Out of Port Limits”, probably in Hurd’s Bank, with the oil originating from Turkmenistan. Details of the invoice, in Turkish, are pictured below. Hurd’s Bank is an area with ongoing and regular activity of oil smuggling. Nigeria has also bought record amounts of oil from oil traders in Hurd’s Bank and declared that it was purchases from Malta.
Alkagesta is not the only oil trader being accused of dealing in smuggled Libyan fuel. The Maltese oil traders Falzon & Falzon are also being accused of buying smuggled Libyan oil, which is then sold with fake certificates denoting the oil from Turkish origin. Fuel smuggling from Libya has been taking place ever since the Libyan Revolution in 2011, but Libyan fuel smuggling is now more concentrated in the East in the areas under control of General Khalifa Haftar.
We have never delved very deep into our investigation about Alkagesta, but official and international authorities tipped us off that Alkagesta is currently under investigation and we will try to keep updated with ongoing developments.
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