A Maltese court has awarded compensation to Russian lender Sberbank after “bad-faith” attempts by Turkish tanker owner Palmali Holding to avoid repaying loans.
Palmali, controlled by Mubariz Mansimov, was found to have tried to fraudulently bankrupt Maltese subsidiaries as the bank chased debts of $194m, Malta Today reported.
Justice Neville Camilleri ordered the repayment of $10m to Sberbank in the case.
Sberbank had awarded four loans to two Russian companies, Palmali Caspian Offshore Project and Palmali Company, which were guaranteed by Palmali against vessels allegedly registered in Malta.
Sberbank had obtained precautionary warrants from the Maltese courts, seizing shares owned by Palmali in its direct subsidiaries, as well as opening an arbitration in London courts.
The lender claimed however that Palmali had transferred all its shares in subsidiaries to Mansimov’s Turkish company Gunesli.
Gunesli’s shares were acquired by another Mansimov-controlled company, Palmali Holding AS in Turkey, just a few days after Sberbank filed proceedings in Malta, the court heard.
Sberbank successfully argued that had been a fraudulent transfer, with 35 Malta-flagged ships being transferred to the indirect possession of Gunesli.
Sberbank said that Palmali’s deregistration of 56 companies in Malta had been an “obvious attempt” to prevent or lengthen notification procedures.
Palmali has been contacted for comment.
Jurisdiction question
The group has argued that Maltese courts had no jurisdiction, and rejected any allegation of fraud or bad faith.
The shipowner said the transfers were part of a restructuring of the group aimed at obtaining refinancing from Turkish banks.
And Palmali believed it had an agreement stipulating London as the jurisdiction for arbitration proceedings.
Palmali LLC, the bankrupt Russian subsidiary of Palmali, saw its 46-ship fleet sold off to creditor Sberbank in 2020.
Mansimov was released from jail in Turkey in March 2021, after receiving a five-year suspended sentence relating to charges of links to an outlawed organisation headed by Fethullah Gulen, an opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Palmali has said there was no evidence to support the false claims, which Mansimov emphatically denied.
In 2015, Mansimov was listed by Forbes as being worth $1.3bn, with a portfolio including dairy products, media, resorts and planes, as well as tankers.
