Page 18 - MEOG Week 38

MEOG NEWS IN BRIEF MEOG

payments for those energy-related shipments.
But despite US and EU sanctions, tankers
owned by Milenyum Energy continued
their activities, with their vessels shipping
oil products in and out of Syria just as
before. Their forbidden transactions weren’t
discovered until the fatal explosion in the
Kerch Strait, which killed Turkish sailor
Cetinok and 19 others.
It turned out that one of Milenyum’s
sanctioned tankers, the Green Light, was
sailing under a new name: Maestro – the
FinCEN Files: Dubious oil more than 400 journalists from 88 countries vessel that went up in flames alongside the
Candy.
points in this direction.
deals with Syria turn fatal and their forbidden practices come from Files suggests that bigger players, such as
Insights into these dubious networks
Information gleaned from the FinCEN
There is an embargo on oil business with documents prepared by compliance officers Petkim – Turkey’s premier petrochemical
Syria, but it still takes place. The FinCEN Files, within banks and submitted to the Financial company – may also have been involved in
international research on money laundering, Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Milenyum and Blue Energy’s illegal operations
corroborates this. And Turkey’s largest oil a regulatory unit within the US Treasury with regard to Syria.
company appears to play an uncanny role. Department tasked with fighting money Founded in 1965, Petkim Petrochemical
In the Kerch Strait off the Crimean coast, laundering. Financial institutions are required Holding began as a state-owned
a dangerous undertaking cost 20 people their to file so-called Suspicious Activity Reports petrochemical manufacturing company.
lives. On January 21, 2019, crews on two (SARs) when they have reason to believe that Petkim was privatized in 2008 when
tankers were transferring liquified petroleum transactions may violate regulations. SARs are the Turkish state sold its 51% stake in
gas (LPG) from one ship to another at sea. not necessarily evidence of wrongdoing. They the company to the SOCAR & Turcas
Something went wrong and there was a reflect the views of watchdogs within banks. Consortium. In 2012, SOCAR, or the State
terrible explosion. Both ships quickly burst In 2019, a cache of such SARs was leaked Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, bought
into flames. to BuzzFeed News, which shared them with Turcas’ shares and is now the majority owner.
A search and rescue team tried to locate the International Consortium of Investigative The remaining shares are traded on the
the burning tankers to rescue the crews. But Journalists (ICIJ). Over the course of 16 Istanbul Stock Exchange.
they lost valuable time. Both ships had loaded months, hundreds of investigative journalists The trail of FinCEN documents pointing
illicit cargo and switched off their tracking evaluated the secret banking reports and towards Petkim begins in Malta. The files
systems to avoid detection by authorities. additional documents. The result is the show that in 2016 US Bank BNY Mellon
In the end, only 14 sailors could be saved. FinCEN Files— an extensive investigation filed a Suspicious Activity Report relating to
Most of the victims were Indian and Turkish into the illicit money flows around the globe. a firm called Petrokim, a company based on
citizens. US and EU sanctions targeting the the Mediterranean island. Malta is considered
Crew member Erdogan Cetinok (45), who import,purchase and transport of oil and a tax haven. According to the US bank,
was killed that day, had boarded one of the petroleum products to and from Syria have Petrokim is associated with the Turkish
tankers, the Candy, less than a month earlier been in place since 2011. In August 2015, Petkim.
in Istanbul. It was his first job with Milenyum in an attempt to weaken Syrian President BNY Mellon provided foreign
Energy SA, which owned both the ships Bashar al-Assad’s support network, the correspondent banking services to Petrokim,
involved in the Kerch Strait incident. Before US Department of the Treasury (USDT) helping it to conduct business abroad. While
his death, he told his sister that the ship was announced new sanctions directly targeting doing so, the US bank noted that the company
sailing for Libya. individuals and companies providing energy completed 223 cash transactions amounting
In reality, it was more likely headed to products used by the Syrian regime. to more than $224 million between March
Syria. It was later discovered that both the Among these newly blacklisted entities was 2010 and July 2016. Its report indicated that
Tanzanian-flagged tankers – the Candy Milenyum Energy. The company is registered suspicious money transactions suggested
and the Maestro – as well as the company in Panama and operates in Turkey. The USDT Petrokim may have violated sanctions on
that owned them were on a US blacklist for maintains that Milenyum made regular Syria.
violating sanctions on Syria. shipments of oil products to the Syrian port Furthermore, it described the company as
Erdogan Cetinok’s sister Hulya said she of Baniyas. As a consequence, its oil shipping “a shell-like entity maintaining an address in
believes Milenyum’s owners are to blame for vessels were blocked. the high-risk jurisdiction of Malta,” adding
the accident and the deaths of the 20 people: The company’s director, Ufuk Kenar; two that Petrokim was “using an address that
“They were hired under false pretenses. of its managers, Serkan and Erkan Duzgoren; is identical to numerous entities that were
What’s left behind are the orphans.” and another employee, Mustafa Aydin; were designated SDNs under Iran sanctions.” SDNs
Were those behind the disaster in the all individually sanctioned. is the abbreviation for “Specially Designated
Kerch Strait part of a broader network Blue Energy, a company closely linked to Nationals” who are blacklisted. SDNs can
of international players directly violating Milenyum and registered in the Caribbean be individuals or companies. Their assets
international sanctions on Syria by island state of Saint Kitts and Nevis, was also are blocked, and US persons are generally
transporting oil and gas products in an out of affected. According to the USDT, Milenyum prohibited from dealing with them.
the country? Extensive research by a team of used its partner Blue Energy to receive According to BNY Mellon, both “shell-

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 23•September•2020