Qatari diplomat a shareholder in Turkish defense company: Report

Some 49 percent of Turkish defense company BMC has been sold to a Qatari company with a Qatari diplomat on the company's board, as reported by Turkish daily Cumhuriyet. 

It is highly questionable for a company with a foreign diplomat on its board to bid on public tenders, said the report, adding the company had recently won a tender to produce inflammable riot control vehicles with water cannons, known as TOMAs in Turkish. 

"The TOMAs of the company were exhibited at the IDEF15 defense fair in Istanbul a couple of weeks ago. Here is the question, whether a company with a foreign diplomat on the board could bid on a public tender, which was opened in closed ways by the police forces of a country," said the report. BMC was bought by Turkish media mogul Ethem Sancak last May after the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) had seized the company in May 2013. The TMSF seized BMC, along with 11 other group companies, from Çukurova in May 2013, alleging the conglomerate had failed to make payments on $455 million worth of debts owed to the fund.

Sancak had offered 751 million Turkish Liras (then worth around $360 million) to buy the manufacturer of armored vehicles, trucks and buses from the state fund, which had initially estimated BMC's value at 958 million liras. Sancak's company, Es Yat?r?m, was, however, the only bidder in the auction and bought the company for what it offered. 

Sancak said the company would cost him around 2 billion liras ($948 million) because of the investment he claims will be needed to continue production.

Cumhuriyet claimed the management structure of the company has changed since this date. According to the report, Es Yat?r?m raised capital in early July 2014 from 103 million liras to 300 million...