Concession starts with a scandal
16/07/2013 00:00
Experts condemn the destruction of the Prespa e Vogël lake by burning of the reeds 16/11 21:14
New shadows of doubt are cast on the already controversial concession
for the coloring of fuels. A Top Channel investigation team secured
custom documents that show discrepancies in the financial value of
imported colorants of “Global Fluids” company.
The document dated May 27th 2013 is a bill declared by the company in the Albanian customs for its first import of colorants. This is a load sent from Netherland with 3465 litres of colorants for which the company has declared only 2.38.000 EUR in the Albanian customs.
Top Channel has secured the export declaration from the Dutch customs authorities, and the value differs with 157 times. According to the declaration released by the Dutch authorities, the cost of the load is only 18.600 EUR. This discrepancy has been identified later by the Albanian customs authority.
Only three days after the goods passed the customs, the company reexported the load to Netherlands again, as the document shows. There is even footage of the truck leaving the Qafe-Thana customs, where the truck has been controlled but not stopped by the Albanian customs authorities. This year the declared value is 24.000 USD.
Top Channel contacted with the company which accepted the discrepancy, but considered them as an error. Through an e-mail Global Fluids declared that their branch in Albania has declared the real value of the goods, but the export documents that have been submitted at the Albanian branch, the transporting company has mistakenly submitted the transport bill with a value of 18.649 EUR. Global Fluids says that the load will soon return to Albania with new documents.
But this version raises another problem. After the difference has been identified by the customs authorities, the load has been under procedure, and according to the customs code, in such cases goods are blocked and are unable to make any other procedure, until the investigation is over, so that the goods can leave or enter the market, but meanwhile all the contrary has happened: the company was allowed to reexport them.
If the authorities will prove that the company has tried to fictively increase the spending, to justify the high fee that they profit from the concession and to avoid taxes, this would be another scandal for the concessionary agreements.
The suspect for the spending manipulation is a phenomenon met in almost all Albanian concessions. Lucrative industries, such as mines and oil, have never paid any taxes on their profits for the last 13 years, because they declare losses and high spending.
Some experts say that the concessionary agreements have built in Albania the reality of a colonial economy, where foreign companies use the natural resources and the exclusive rights of the state, they make colossal profits and avoid even the most basic obligations. The concessionary that won the monopoly for coloring fuels, with a 4 million EUR investment, will profit 200 million EUR in only a few years. A few days ago Parliament Member Erjon Brace also accused this company for fiscal evasion.
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