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Businessman Rezart Taçi is also sentenced in Switzerland/ Media: As an ALBANIAN oil trader, he earned 1.5 billion dollars "from nothing"!

2025-08-27 11:19:27Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Businessman Rezart Taçi is also sentenced in Switzerland/ Media: As an
Rezart Taci

An unusual defendant was sentenced on Tuesday in Geneva by the Correctional Court.

At the age of 54, Rezart Taçi was accused of a series of financial frauds through his oil field activities carried out in Albania, which also had significant ramifications in Switzerland.

According to the indictment, fraud through a " particularly cunning " system, forgery of documents and abuse of trust constitute the serious core of the violations attributed to him.

Among the victims is the global certification giant SGS, which recently moved its headquarters from Geneva to Zug.

Being the subject of an international arrest warrant issued in Albania, he is on the run and was therefore excluded from appearing before justice.

In Albania, he has been prosecuted for at least four years on suspicion of money laundering and links to organized crime, due to alleged ties to the Sicilian mafia.

"He is in the United States," believes the presiding judge, Alessandra Armati.

" No," his lawyer, Me Pascal Maurer, objects. "I can't tell you where he is, but I've spoken to him. He has read the indictment and accepts the facts ."

An "exceptional situation"

It is rare for a businessman to be tried in absentia under a simplified procedure, a plea agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant, valid only if there are written documents confirming the guilty plea, and then simply needing validation by the court in a short session, no more than 15 minutes.

In principle, the presence of the defendant is necessary, but this "special situation" justifies flexibility, according to prosecutor Frédéric Hensler.

The plaintiff, SGS, represented by attorney Clara Poglia, agreed with this.

It is precisely this situation that explains why the sentence, which the judge described as "bordering on harsh", was confirmed: 30 months in prison, 24 of which are suspended, taking into account the detention in Zurich twelve years ago.

Furthermore, Rezart Taci was ordered to compensate SGS with $8.8 million (of which only 5% is liquid), as well as pay court costs.

This flexibility was implemented because all parties, including the Prosecution, had an interest in closing this old case, three prosecutors had dealt with it, which reflects part of the history of finance in Geneva.

From peak to decline

Rezart Taçi, who according to the Albanian press managed to generate up to $1.5 billion at his peak, began his career in oil in the late 1990s. He founded the company Taçi Oil. At that time, “the Oilman,” as he was called, “came out of nowhere,” according to one diplomat.

In 2009, it benefited from a profitable public tender during the privatization of the AMRO group, which included the fuel network, a refinery and storage facilities in the port of Durres.

As expected, he created a trading company in Geneva and took out loans from the most prestigious banks, six of which are mentioned in the indictment.

A year earlier, Reporters Without Borders had reported the beating of a journalist who was investigating him. His two guards were convicted, but he himself escaped by declaring in court his opposition to any form of violence.

In business, he collaborated with large trading companies, including the giant Trafigura, also headquartered in Geneva.

In this context, it was up to SGS to verify the flow and quantity of petroleum products according to the contracts and declarations of the parties.

This is where Taci's "particularly cunning" system comes into play: by manipulating measurements and installing hidden valves in the tankers, he managed to unload the fuel without breaking the seals, profiting from thousands of tons of oil or gas at the expense of SGS and its partners. He also supplied forged documents.

The outbreak of the scandal

The affair broke out in 2013, when "friends" of Taci, covered in debt, turned to SGS for a deal.

The company initially sued, but was then forced by an arbitration court to reimburse its customers, including Trafigura, over $31 million, before a final financial settlement was reached this year.

Before his downfall, Taci had also briefly purchased the Parma football club in Italy.

He was accompanied by his "model", Silvio Berlusconi, and had traveled by private jet with Tony Blair./ Alfapress


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