During inspections of the activities of the port of Turkmenbashi city, several officials were arrested on the fact of corruption and embezzlement of funds by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of National Security of Turkmenistan.
As it became known to ACCA sources, the chief engineer of the port and his deputy, as well as several heads of some terminals of the port, were arrested for forging documents for the completion of work in the port. As it turned out during the audit, the work was actually not carried out.
Also, the chief engineer wrote off and sold new metal structures under the guise of scrap metal. Theft and illegal export of fuel, polypropylene and other products stolen from the Turkmenbashi oil refinery were revealed.
An ACCA source said that over several years, the top officials and some employees of the port sold several written-off ships for scrap bypassing the state. The port also operated a “$2 per ton” scheme, that is, goods or any other products exported through the port of Turkmenbashi were subject to illegal taxation. This ‘tax’ was extorted by delaying the shipped products; until the buyer pays the tax, the products will not be shipped. And the buyer will pay money for storage in the port warehouse, lose money for demurrage of the vessel. As soon as the buyer pays $2 in cash per ton of shipped products, all products are immediately loaded onto the ship. According to the same scheme, oil and polypropylene were shipped. An ACCA source said that over several years of such work, corrupt officials caused damage to the state in the amount of $4.5 million.
