Kokalari: Garancia bankare për Albpetrolin ishte një mashtrim

Gary Kokalari, një aktivist shqiptaro-amerikan (themelues i shoqatës ADA), i ka dërguar një letër Frank Wisner-it të firmës Patton Boggs, e cila këshillon zyrtarisht qeverinë shqiptare për privatizimin e Albpetrolit. Këtë letër Kokalari ua ka percjellë elektronikisht për dijeni edhe disa zyrtarëve të Departamentit të Shtetit Amerikan, disa kongresmenëve dhe një rrjeti të gjerë gazetarësh dhe aktivistësh në Shqipëri.

Në letrën e tij Kokalari hedh dyshime të forta për garancinë bankare të paraqitur nga Vetro Silk Road për ofertën e privatizimit të Albpetrolit. Një përfaqsues i bankës American Chartered Bank i ka deklaruar pa ekuivok Kokalarit se ajo bankë nuk ka dhënë ndonjë garanci në lidhje me Albpetrolin. Në qoftë se dikush ka paraqitur një garanci të tillë ka bërë një përjekje për mashtrim, arrin në përfundim Kokalari.

E.Zaloshnja
Letrën e plotë të Kokalarit në anglisht mund ta lexoni më poshtë.
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Frank Wisner
Patton Boggs
Frank,
With respect to the Albpetrol tender, I first informed you of my suspicions about the validity of the American Chartered guarantee in my September 9th email to you (a copy appears below).
Attached is a December 11 article from Shqip, a newspaper published in Albania. The article refers to a guarantee dated August 23, 2012 that supposedly was issued by American Chartered, and it also refers to a September 25, 2012 letter from David Farber of Patton Boggs. The article seems to imply that your firm provided some form of confirmation that the American Chartered guarantee was indeed issued. Is there any validity to this report?
You should be aware that I received an email today from a representative of American Chartered Bank that unambiguously and explicitly confirms that American Chartered was not involved in the Albpetrol transaction. Therefore, if anyone represented the American Chartered had guaranteed the deal then this may constitute an attempt at fraud. What, if anything, did Patton Boggs do to verify the claim that Vetro Silk Road had secured a guarantee from American Chartered Bank?

Sincerely,
Gary Kokalari
P.S. thought the ADA press release might be of interest: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/12/prweb10210212.htm

Mr. Frank Wisner
Patton Boggs LLP
1185 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Dear Mr. Wisner:
It's my understanding that your firm is advising the Albanian government with respect to the privatization of Albpetrol.
This recent Reuters report http://reut.rs/Q9cSgA indicates that the highest bidder for Albpetrol was the "Vetro Silk Road Equity consortium" with a bid of 850 million euros ($1.07 billion) and that this bid was more than double the amount of both the valuation of Albpetrol and the amount offered by the next highest bidder.
Because of your role as an advisor on the Albpetrol privatization, I would like you to respond to several questions related to the Albpetrol tender as follows:

1. This is a link to a web site for Silk Road Equity http://www.silkroadequity.com/ . The principals of this Silk Road Equity are Andrew J. Filipowski and Matthew Roszak. Is this the same Silk Road Equity that bid on Albpetrol? If so, in my opinion, there is no information on this website that substantiates that Silk Road Equity has the track record or financial wherewhithal to conclude a transaction of the magnitude of Albpetrol or to operate the entity in the post closing period. From what I can see, it doesn't look like Silk Road or its affiliates has owned or operated a facility even remotely comparable to Albpetrol anywhere in the world. Is my assessment correct?
2. "Vetro Energy" is listed as part of the "consortium" that bid on Albpetrol in partnership with Silk Road. After conducting a brief web search, I couldn't seem to find an established energy company operating under the name Vetro, and I find this odd given the fact the company is now trying to complete a $1 billion oil deal with the Albanian government. The only link I could find between an entity named Vetro and Silk Road Equity was that on Silk Road Equity's website, among its "portfolio" holdings it lists Silk Road Realty Capital, and the website of Silk Road Realty lists a Vetro condominium project in Chicago as part of its portfolio. Apparently, one of the developers of the Vetro condominium was Thomas Roszak, and he declared personal bankruptcy according to this article: http://yochicago.com/vetro-developer-files-for-chapter-7-ban... . Was this bankruptcy related to the lackluster sales at the Vetro which required an auction to move the condo units? Is Thomas Roszak the brother of Matthew Roszak? Just what is the relationship between Silk Road Equity and the Vetro condominium project?
3. This SEC filing http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2006/comp19722.pdf indicates that the SEC filed a complaint against Matthew Roszak alleging insider trading. Are you aware of this matter? Do you know the ultimate disposition of the case?
4. Were bidders for Albpetrol required to sumbit audited financial statements and banking references to support their ability to complete the transaction? If so, have you reviewed this information for Silk Road and/or Vetro? Have you determined that Silk Road has legitimate credit facilities that can used to consummate the deal? One would think your firm would have concluded this due diligence as part of the process of qualifying the bidders.
5. According to news reports in Albania, Damir Fazlic appeared in Tirana two days before the announcement of the winning bid. I believe you are acquainted with Fazlic, a Bosnian who is reputed to be a close business associate of the Berisha family. There are also reports in Albania that an Essad Puskar - who, like Falzic, is a Bosnian - has an affiliation with Vetro/Silk Road as well as with Taci Oil http://www.top-channel.tv/english/artikull.php?id=7001 . Are you aware if there's any substance to these claims? Was Falzic's visit to Albania in any way connected to the Albpetrol privatization?
6. Are you aware if Sali Berisha, members of his family, and/or any senior Albanian government officials are in any way indirectly or directly attempting to take control of Albpetrol? If so, as you know, this could constitute a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by any American person or company that facilitates such a scheme, and I assume you would report this to the appropriate USG officials, if warranted.
7. Do you or your firm have any prior relationships with any of the bidders for Albpetrol? If so, please disclose and explain.
8. Although it may be too early to tell, frankly, to me, the Albpetrol situation sounds eerily like it may be a replay of the ARMO deal, which your firm also handled. You will recall that Jude Kearny declared Refinery Associates of Texas the high bidder for ARMO and he also declared the process as being transparent http://bit.ly/QAz2dX . Yet mysteriously, when the dust cleared, Rezart Taci, a cronie of Sali Berisha, ended up taking control of ARMO. It looks like a now disputed EURO 75 million credit facility from the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), which is controlled by the government of Azerbaijan, was in some way used to facilitate Taci's control of ARMO. Is this correct?
9. Given that both the Albanian and Azerbaijan governments have been clients of Patton Boggs, do you know anything about the background of IBA/Taci financing? Was your firm in any way involved in arranging or advising on this financing?
10, It's my understanding that Top Channel has reported that American Chartered Bank has agreed to act as "guarantor" for the Albpetrol deal. I'm not sure what this means, but what I do know is that American Chartered Bank is a bank with only $2.3 billion in assets and $185 million in equity that specializes in making commercial loans to small and medium sized businesses in the Chicago area. So, if in the current tight and highly regulated banking environment, if it's being suggested that American Chartered Bank is going to leap into the international arena to enable Vetro Silk Road to complete a $1 billion transaction, in my opinion, this is a fairy tale. But please review these links about American Chartered http://bit.ly/OBO2Wm and FDIC lending limits http://1.usa.gov/SyFLIJ . Have I missed something? Is my assessment incorrect?
I am most interested in hearing you replies to my inquiries, but more important, given the repeated allegations of corrupt practices by the Berisha government, I believe the people of Albania and relevant U.S. government officials have a right to know the answers to these questions.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Gary Q, Kokalari