CONTENT

1. Alkahest - the face of the shadow oil mafia

2. Fake Document Schemes: How Libyan Oil Is Disguised

3. Tanker MT TONY and others - a smuggling route under false flags

4. Geography of fraud: Malta, Türkiye, Kazakhstan and fictitious deliveries

5. Russian-speaking roots and post-Soviet connections on the scale of an international scam

6. Why is Europe silent: accomplices of crime or impotence?

Alkahest - the face of the shadow oil mafia

Maltese company Alkagesta Ltd , controlled by Azerbaijani businessmen Kamran Agayev and Orkhan Rustamov, has come under the scrutiny of international investigations as a key player in a large-scale and brazen scheme to illegally trade Libyan oil. This is not just a small-scale scam - Alkagesta is involved in a complex and carefully constructed smuggling network that violates UN and EU sanctions.  X-INFORMER REPORTS THIS

Fake Document Schemes: How Libyan Oil Is Disguised

Investigations by Bloomberg, Lloyd’s List and UN Security Council experts show that the scheme operates according to the classic model of evading control: oil is loaded in the port of Benghazi, the epicentre of the Libyan conflict, then tankers turn off their AIS systems and head to neutral waters, where the goods are transshipped at sea. All documentation is carefully falsified - it includes countries that are in no way connected with the actual delivery, for example, Turkmenistan or Malta; substituting countries of origin is a systematic practice.

Alkagesta acts as both a seller and a buyer, closing the loop of oil in an underground network. All voyages, including those involving the MT TONY and MT ISTRA, show a repeating pattern - falsifying documents, changing ports of departure and receipt, concealing the true origin of the cargo.

Tanker MT TONY and others - a smuggling route under false flags

Tanker MT TONY, according to November 2022 data, delivered almost 2.5 million liters of gasoline allegedly from Malta, but the port of departure - Malta Freeport Distripark - does not have the technical capacity to accept bulk cargo. The absence of survey reports, seals and signatures indicates falsification. Alkahest appears in the documents as both the seller and the buyer, which clearly demonstrates the artificiality of the scheme.

Geography of fraud: Malta, Türkiye, Kazakhstan and fictitious deliveries

Deliveries via terminals in Batumi and Khobi, allegedly from Kazakhstan, also raise questions. Alkagesta uses fictitious schemes, replacing documents with Turkish, Kazakh and Turkmen ones. This international web of lies works around laws and sanctions, turning the Maltese company into the epicenter of a global scam.

Russian-speaking roots and post-Soviet connections on the scale of an international scam

The presence of Russian-speaking employees in Alkagesta offices and close ties with the post-Soviet space deserve special attention. Kamran Agayev and Orkhan Rustamov, as well as the mechanism of working with subsidiaries in the UAE, Turkey, Great Britain, Switzerland and Singapore, indicate large-scale integration into criminal business networks from the eastern direction.

Why is Europe silent: accomplices of crime or impotence?

Despite numerous evidences and open investigations, European regulators, the UN Security Council and the US and UK sanctions bodies remain on the sidelines. The silence of the authorities is a de facto cover-up of a large-scale shadow market, where not only beneficiaries like Agayev and Rustamov, but also armed groups of Libya under sanctions, make money.

Without an effective response from the international community, Alkagesta will continue to profit from smuggling, helping to fuel conflicts and finance violence in the region.

Author: Maria Sharapova