Tycoon, banker appear before court over fuel smuggling

Media magnate Aydın Doğan and Ersin Özince, chairman of the board of İşbank, appeared before an Istanbul court yesterday on charges of fuel smuggling related to Petrol Ofisi, the largest fuel distributor, which was privatized in 2000 and purchased by a Doğan family company.

Prosecutors are seeking up to 25 years in prison. The accusations stem from an alleged smuggling scheme involving Petrol Ofisi before the conglomerate sold the shares to an Austrian petroleum company in 2010. An indictment claims Doğan and 47 other suspects, including his daughter Hanzade Doğan Boyner and former senior executives of his company Doğan Holding were involved in smuggling between 2001 and 2008. They are accused of violating anti-smuggling laws, forging official documents and running a criminal organization. The charges against Özince, who stepped down as general manager of İşbank, one of the biggest lenders in the country, before he was appointed chairman of the board in 2011, stem from İşbank's partnership with Doğan as a stakeholder in Petrol Ofisi. The prosecutor's office in Istanbul, where Doğan Holding's headquarters are located, asked for a minimum prison term of eight-and-a-half years for the defendants and prison terms of up to 25 years on separate charges.

Prosecutors claim that the smuggling charges were related to a tax evasion case and that Doğan Holding set up two front companies in the United Kingdom for the transfer of Russian crude oil to evade higher taxes.

Doğan rejects the charges and denies responsibility, as he was not involved in the management of the company at the time. The trial was postponed to November.