Court of Arbitration stops order to freeze Bankers’ Petroleum accounts

23/11/2015 14:35

The Court of Arbitration ruled that the Tax Office decision to freeze all
Bankers Petroleum accounts is illegal and, until a further decision,
they are not to force any asset collection of the disputed 75 million
USD.

The conflict between the Tax Office and the Canadian company started with a National Agency of Natural Resources report, drafted a few months ago, concluding that Bankers had reported higher expenses (300 million USD) to benefit tax reduction.

Bankers and the Agency agreed to hire an independent firm to audit claims from both parties, but the Tax Office intervened with a report and requested the payment of 75 million USD. They claim these taxes were evaded through fake declaration of expenses.

The case passed to the Administrative Court which ruled in favor of the Tax Office and all Bankers’ assets were frozen.

But the Canadian company filed a complaint against Albania at the Court of Arbitration, requesting a suspension of the Tax Office order until a further decision.

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