Istanbul court sentenced second richest man of the country, owner of Cukurova Group Mehmet Karamehmet to almost 12 years’ imprisonment for misappropriation of Pamukbank funds, that he ran in 1990s, Vedomosti reports referring to France Presse and Turkish Hurriyet.

Besides, Karamehmet has to pay a fine of TRL 472m (about $312m). In addition, eleven former Pamukbank employees are brought to account, as all of them are somehow accessorial to granting loans that could not be repaid. Karamehmet is not yet taken in charge, but is banned from departing from Turkey.

Cukurova holding is a long-time foe of Russian Altimo holding, managing shares of Alfa Group. This Turkish company also holds 51% of Cukurova Telecom Holding (CTH) shares meanwhile owning 53% of Turkcell Holding (controls leading cellular operator Turkcell). In 2005 Altimo acquired 49% of CTH shares (13.22% of Turkcell) for $1.6bn in parallel making a loan of $1.7bn to Cukurova, that was experiencing severe financial problems against security of 51% CTH shares. Thereafter, Russian Altimo blamed Cukurova for disregard of loan agreement provisions and claimed its 51% through the court that would enable 51% control over Turkcell. There is no final decision over the matter as of now.

S.T.