Is Audit of Koc Companies Erdogan’s Revenge for Gezi Park?

Kadri Gürsel

Jul 29, 2013

Koc Holding Chairman Mustafa Koc makes a speech during the opening ceremony of the 12th Istanbul Biennial September 15, 2011. The 12th Istanbul Biennial has been organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) and is sponsored by Koc Holding. The Istanbul Biennial will run until November 13. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINESS INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY ENTERTAINMENT) - RTR2RC15 — Koc Holding Chairman Mustafa Koc makes a speech during the opening ceremony of the 12th Istanbul Biennial, Sept. 15, 2011. — REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Türkçe

On Wednesday, July 24, audit teams of the Ministry of Finance accompanied by police raided nine provincial offices of three major energy-sector companies of Turkey’s largest group, Koc Holding.

During the raids at TUPRAS [oil refining], OPET [fuel distribution] and Aygaz [liquefied gas distribution], purportedly for tax and smuggling audits, all documents and computer data of the companies were seized to be audited.

TUPRAS is the biggest industrial company in the country. It had sales of $20.8 billion in 2012.

Aygaz is tenth in the top 500 companies listed by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry. Its revenue for 2012 was reported at $2.44 billion.

Is Audit of Koc Companies Erdogan’s Revenge for Gezi Park?

Police-accompanied tax audit raids against three companies of Turkey's largest industrial group, Koc, is putting into deeds Erdogan’s threats against capital owners he holds responsible for the Gezi Park events.

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