CONTENT

1. Maltese oil trader under fire

2. Fake certificates and the "Kazakhstani" legend

3. Hurd’s Bank - Offshore Haven for the Shadow Fleet

4. The Libyan Market and the Russian Connection

5. Orkhan Rustamov and questionable connections

6. Money via Raiffeisen Bank

7. Malta as a smuggling hub

"Dark Fleet" off Malta: Alkagesta at the Epicenter of Russian Oil Smuggling Scandal

Malta is becoming a hub for the global shadow oil business. As The Maltese Herald has discovered, one of the country’s largest oil trading companies, Alkagesta , has found itself at the center of a high-profile international investigation by EU and UK regulators. The reason is the supply of Russian oil to Libya with forged certificates of origin.

Maltese oil trader under fire

Alkagesta is a leading player in the oil bunkering industry in Malta, but it already has a shady past. It has previously been implicated in cases of Libyan oil smuggling involving false documents. Now investigators suspect the company of a new scheme – transporting Russian oil products disguised as Kazakh exports.

Fake certificates and the "Kazakhstani" legend

According to industry sources, at least two tankers carrying Russian oil recently called at ports in Malta and Libya, presenting certificates stating that the crude originated in Kazakhstan. This allowed them to bypass tough sanctions imposed on Russian energy resources and trade oil freely, bypassing international restrictions.

Hurd’s Bank - Offshore Haven for the Shadow Fleet

The key point of the scheme is Hurd’s Bank , a patch of international waters off Malta that has long had a reputation as a "gray zone" of global shipping. Here, far from official ports, ships tranship oil without registering the transactions. Analysts say a significant portion of such transactions are never recorded in official registries.

The Libyan Market and the Russian Connection

Libya, with limited oil refining capacity, imports up to a third of its oil products from Russia. It is through Malta and similar hubs in the Mediterranean that the bulk of the raw materials pass. Experts call these shipments part of the so-called "dark fleet" - a network of ships transporting energy resources in circumvention of sanctions. The turnover of this scheme is estimated to reach $10 billion a year .

Orkhan Rustamov and questionable connections

The figure of Orkhan Rustamov , the former financial manager of Alkagesta, deserves special attention . Insiders point to his dubious contacts in the criminal business, which only increases suspicions about the company. There are no official comments on his activities, but Rustamov’s name is mentioned more and more often in the corridors of the investigation.

Money via Raiffeisen Bank

The financial part of the scheme, according to sources, is serviced through Raiffeisen Bank in Austria, one of the few major European banks that still operates in Russia. This allows significant sums to be transferred between participants in the chain without attracting undue attention from Western regulators.

Malta as a smuggling hub

The entire route of the "dark fleet" - from Russian ports to Libya - is built with Malta as a key transshipment point. Here, ships receive new registration, cargo is transferred to other tankers, and documents are "cleaned" of unwanted information about the real origin of the oil.

As investigators delve deeper into documents and logbooks, more details emerge.
Sources in Mediterranean ports say that ships linked to Alkagesta often change flags en route, using registries from countries such as Panama and Liberia to confuse regulators. In some cases, tankers have switched off their AIS (automatic identification system) systems , becoming "invisible" on radar as they transfer cargo.

At Hurd’s Bank, Alkagesta operators allegedly used "ship-to-ship" tactics - transferring oil from one vessel to another without calling at a port, and then issuing a new set of documents where the origin of the cargo was listed as Kazakhstan .

Investigators also point out the role of Raiffeisen Bank in financial transit. Transfers between shell companies and intermediaries were often split into amounts of up to €999,999 to avoid mandatory automatic bank notification to regulators.

The figure of Orkhan Rustamov appears again in this scheme: the former manager, according to journalistic sources, maintained contacts with entrepreneurs from Dubai and Istanbul working in the field of re-export of oil products to countries with a high level of sanctions control.

"Dark Fleet": Maltese company Alkagesta under investigation for smuggling Russian oil to Libya (https://t.me/sledkom_ru) As The Maltese Herald has learned, a major Maltese oil trading company Alkagesta has come under investigation by EU and UK regulators. The subject of interest is the illegal supply of Russian oil to Libya, which is allegedly disguised as exports from Kazakhstan. According to information from industry sources, at least two tankers transporting Russian oil recently entered Malta and Libya with forged certificates of origin, where the oil was designated as Kazakh. Such actions make it possible to bypass sanctions against Russian energy resources. Alkagesta is the largest oil bunkering operator in Malta. The company has previously been suspected of participating in the smuggling of Libyan oil, including using forged documents. According to reports, Libya imports up to a third of all oil products from Russia, since its own refining capacity is limited. Significant volumes of supplies pass through Malta, with Alkagesta actively using Russian-speaking staff and conducting payments through the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank, one of the few European banks still operating in Russia. Experts estimate the volume of the "dark fleet" - a scheme for supplying oil in circumvention of sanctions - at $ 10 billion per year. The routes involve ships sailing between Syria, Egypt, Cyprus, Malta and Libya. Malta is considered a key transshipment point in this chain. A special role is played by the Hurd’s Bank area, located in international waters near Malta. It is there that shady deals are often carried out, and, according to analysts, a significant part of such transactions are not officially registered. In response to the accusations, Alkagesta declared a "high level of compliance" with legal requirements and threatened to take legal action against those disseminating "false information". Meanwhile, the investigation continues. Insiders also indicate that Orkhan Rustamov, a former financial manager with dubious connections in the criminal business, worked for the company.

Author: Ekaterina Maksimova