Millions-worth materials not included in sale price at privatization

A recently revealed document shows that millions-worth assets in one of Turkey’s privatized sugar factories were returned to the purchaser after the sale although they were not included in the sale price
Saturday, 15 December 2018 11:09

A document publicized recently shows that millions-worth assets of Turkey’s Elbistan sugar factory which was privatized in April this year along with several other sugar factories were not recorded so that they were not included in the sale price.

Elbistan sugar factory in Turkey’s Kahramanmaraş was sold to a private firm, Mutlucan sugar company. The factory's privatization contract was prepared in April and it was handed over to Mutlucan in July.

As reported in Milli Gazete, in May and June, the unrecorded assets in the factory that was worth millions of Turkish Liras were sent to the storages of Malatya sugar factory with 12 different records. The assets range from electric motors to beet knives.

The transfer seems to have made the millions-worth materials excluded from the sales price. The very same materials were then sent back to Elbistan sugar factory after the sale, on August 8, 9, and 10 with separate reports.

It is also known that 10 trucks full of valuable materials had been returned to the purchaser of Çorum sugar factory before. The sugar factory in Bor, on the other hand, had been unlawfully handed over to a company which did not officially participate in the auction. The Privatisation Administration had chosen to remain silent despite criticisms.

Sugar factories of Turkey were privatized by Turkey’s ruling AKP on the excuse that they were not making profits but losing money. The chairperson of the Chamber of Agricultural Engineers refuted AKP government's argument, underlying that sugar factories actually profited around 16 million US dollars in 2016 when the factories that halted their production were excluded.

According to the sources, some of the sugar factories halted production due to the fact that the farmers were unable to produce enough sugar beets. Sugar beet is not included in the inventory of agricultural products to be supported although its inadequate production causes the collapse of the sugar production sector.