Turkish firm to be sued over ‘fake’ copper deal
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 per cent 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.
A PAIR of Sir Winston Churchill’s velvet slippers have sold for nearly £40,000.
The footwear went under the hammer on Tuesday afternoon for the first time in more than 20 years.
Dating back to the 1950s, the luxury slippers are embroidered with the wartime leader’s initials.
They were put up for auction alongside a large brandy glass that also belonged to the former prime minister.
Items belonging to Sir Winston usually cause a stir at auction, experts say, and these two lots appear to have been no different.
The slippers, which are 29cm long and embroidered in raised gold thread with the initials WSC, were expected to fetch between £10,000 and £15,000. But they smashed expectations to sell for £32,000, rising to £39,040 when including the buyer’s premium. The current owner bought the slippers and brandy balloon in 1998 and previously said he would be sad to see them go. He said: “I often imagined the great man sitting in his chair with these slippers on and this very glass filled with brandy in his hand. “You can’t really beat that.”
THE music buffs amongst you will have heard of Bernie Marsden. At 70 years old this year, he has been a professional rock and blues guitarist since 1972, playing with a host of bands, including “Skinny Cat” and “UFO”. His fame rests on his time with legendary rockers, Whitesnake, which he formed with David Coverdale in 1978. They jointly wrote many of the band’s hit songs. Bernie left Whitesnake in 1981.
It was in this post-Whitesnake period that I saw this accomplished vocalist and musician perform, with a wonderful sixpiece band. Not in some vast stadium, but in a tiny village hall in Woodford, Cheshire, at the southern end of my then constituency. The place was packed. Such venues are perfect, especially to witness the greats first-hand, rare though such opportunities are.
Not a note of Whitesnake issued forth.
Bernie was playing the blues. His true passion. During the interval, I managed to chat with him and get my copy of his Big Boy Blues album signed. I still treasure it. For a rock God, he was wonderfully “normal”. If you get the chance, see your rock heroes in a hut! You can’t beat it!