Klodian Tomorri
In the Austrian capital, in one of the many branches of the Raiffeisen Bank there, a bank account has been opened. The owner of the account is the company Bankers Petroleum Albania.
Although at first glance this seems like a normal action that businesses do in their daily activities, this account is the center of a large criminal activity, deliberately set up to disappear Patos Marinza's billions of oil, leaving Albania with huge holes of debts and unpaid taxes.
All this is done with the blessing of the Albanian authorities and the essence of the criminal scheme is simple. Bankers Petroleum collects billions of euros from the sale of oil it extracts in Marinza, but not a single penny comes to Albania. All the money goes to the Austrian account and from there it is dissipated, making it impossible for the Albanian government and other creditors to execute the debts that Bankers does not pay.
Raiffeisen Bank Vienna
In the last four years, Bankers Petroleum Albania has collected about 900 million dollars from the sale of oil extracted in Patos-Marinza. For each export payment, the money is transferred to the Vienna account and from there Bankers manages it as it pleases. The problem is that Bankers has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt in Albania in the form of unpaid taxes to the state budget and obligations to private subcontractors.
But because the money goes to Austria, the bailiffs are running around empty-handed with court decisions and executive titles in their hands. Because in Albania, Bankers has no account with money that can be blocked to execute the debt.
The situation has worsened significantly, especially over the last year, when Bankers began to pay practically nothing and no one, recklessly accumulating huge debts.
Mountain of debt
Currently, Bankers Petroleum has $80 million in unpaid debts to Albanian subcontractors who have carried out work on the Patos Marinza wells. Most of them have already thrown in the towel and are crying foul over the loss they suffered from the Chinese criminal scheme. But although in the case of private subcontractors, the risk and costs are theirs, the problem lies with public debts.
Bankers Petroleum must pay a minimum of $100 million to the state budget. This bill is final, certified by a final decision by the International Court of Arbitration in the summer of 2024. The dispute, brought to arbitration by Bankers, was related to the cost recovery procedure related to operations in the Patos Marinza oil field. The Court's decision rejected over $236 million in costs claimed by Bankers and contested by AKBN.
But beyond this bill, which is a final debt, the Albanian fiscal authorities also have claims for another 300 million dollars, which Bankers must pay to the state. This is the famous customs fine, ascertained in 2019, but made official only in October of last year. The obligation stems from the non-payment of excise duty on the diluent used in oil extraction. Together with the customs fine and the duties calculated by the Taxes, it is a full 300 million dollars.
But the Albanian government cannot collect a single penny from these debts because the money from oil sales goes to Austria.
All this raises a question that is more than blatant. The account in Austria is legal and has been operating for years. But how does the Albanian government, in the current situation, allow Bankers not to bring the money from the sale of Albanian oil to Albania at all, but to freely take it to Austria, depriving the budget of the opportunity to recover unpaid debts and obligations?
What prevents the government from ordering that any money collected from the sale of public property of Albanians come to Albania? This is not an oversight out of ignorance, but intentional. Because such a scheme cannot be done without the authorities turning a blind eye, including customs, taxes, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy.
Scorched Earth
What is happening to Bankers is now clear. A structured group of Chinese criminals, aided by corrupt officials in Albania, are leaving scorched earth behind.
Luntao Chen, CEO of Bankers Petroleum Albania
The rapid creation of debts over the last year is not accidental or because the company has no money. The Chinese are taking all the money out, from Austria to Kazakhstan, China or other countries, after they realized that Patos Marinza's field is running out and their stay in Albania is coming to an end. A situation that Edi Rama once defined with the term KÇK, catch what you catch, to describe what was happening to judges and prosecutors before Vetting.
But now this is what a group of Chinese, Bankers' leaders, are doing, who are stealing from their shareholders, but above all Albanians, by taking billions of dollars out and leaving billions more in debt here. All under the nose of the government and most likely, after the Chinese have drained the last drop of the dollar from Albanian oil, they will go to arbitration to put a lid on the stinking well and guarantee their immunity from the criminal scheme they set up.
This is a large group of criminals, consisting of Chinese scoundrels in the role of Bankers' managers and Albanian scoundrels in the role of officials, lawyers, but also bankers, who have allowed or helped the company to launder money abroad and avoid paying its obligations in Albania.
Editorial
