Mercuria files case against Turkish firm over copper deal

Mercuria Holdings

09/03/2021 16:13

LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - Mercuria Energy Trading has
launched a civil suit against a Turkish firm over what the
global commodity trading firm's lawyer described as fraud
related to a deal to buy copper worth $36 million.
    Last year, Geneva-based Mercuria agreed to buy about 10,000
tonnes of copper blister, an impure form of the metal, for
delivery to China. About 6,700 tonnes of the total was loaded
for shipment in containers on eight vessels.
    When the first shipment was opened in China with other
cargoes still on the way, Chinese inspectors found paving stones
not copper, Mercuria's lawyer Sinan Borovali from KYB Law said.
    Mercuria had already paid for 90% of the cargoes loaded for
shipment, the lawyer said.
    Mercuria filed a civil suit for a debt claim in Turkey and
filed a report for theft and fraud with the Turkish prosecutor's
office. The lawyer said 14 people had been taken into custody
after a police investigation.
    Bietsan Bakir, the Turkish firm which sold Mercuria the
copper, and the police did not respond to requests for comment.
    

 (Reporting by Julia Payne and Tom Daly; Additional reporting by
Ezki Erkoyun and Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul; Editing by Edmund
Blair)
 ((julia.payne@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 1836;))