Key graft scandal figure sets up new company to open hotel in Macedonia

Can Mumay - ISTANBUL

Reza Zarrab, who was embroiled in Turkey’s huge graft probe that went public in December 2013, has established a new company, Brilliant Invest International, to open a hotel in Macedonia. 

His advocate, Şeyda Yıldırım, has confirmed the company was set up in Macedonia to make a hotel investment, but added the project has not yet been realized. 

According to several media outlets in Macedonia, Zarrab’s company was established with an investment of 650,000 euros. Zarrab has several companies in jewelry, precious stones, furniture, decoration and civil aviation sectors. 

One of his companies, Volgam Gıda, was ranked 13 among 1,000 top exporters of Turkey in 2014. Volgam Gıda, 100 percent of which is owned by Zarrab according to trade records, became Turkey’s 13th biggest exporter in 2014 with exports worth around $847 million in the Exporters’ Assembly of Turkey’s (TİM) list of top 1,000 exporters. 

Almost all of Volgam Gıda’s exports were comprised of jewelry exports in 2014, when Turkey’s jewelry exports saw record rises up to $3 billion.

Comparatively, the company did not even feature in 2013’s top 1,000 list. 

Volgam Gıda’s jewelry exports rose by around 5,123 percent in 2014 from the previous year, representing about 30 percent of Turkey’s total jewelry exports in 2014.