Its now pretty clear that todays fall was due to the Motley Fool's false article. Just shows how many private investors here do not understand the company they are invested in.
Now that e have had two days of Telegraph attention I'm hoping for the Times tomorrow.
Good to see the board returning to sensible posters mostly. The shorters have been badly burned by our recent 80% rise. GLA
That's true Bruce. It becomes better at transmission but to do so loses a bit of it agressive effects.
This is about to take off even after a 70% rise in a week. GLA
Indeed Mikep Someone is seriously short here and trying hard to sow doubt.
I can see there are a few new people who do not understand the understated ways of RM etc.
That Billion in sales gives us a mkt cap of about £10BN. Or if you have shares then one share will be worth £50. Shorters will be leaving the building soon.
Sales of a billion will give SNG a mkt cap of £10bn or a lot of money per share!
A billion in sales is a great quote. This will fly tomorrow.
We are about to see a real and sustained upturn here so why all the negative posts here? We know someone is short here and down a million so far so always be careful of their attacks. I topped up here recently and ccontinue to see a huge opportunity here. Enjoy the ride folks GLA.
We are finally getting close to where we should be. The Daily Mail write up says it all. £20 a share next target. Enjoy the ride folks GLA!
We could see 200p today. GLA
Good news on the way here and we are getting back to where we should be. I'm fully loaded here and looking forward to tomorrow and next week. GLA.
Its starting to look as though I called the low point recently by saying the shares were too cheap. Hope many like me topped up and are now enjoying this rise. We deserve it.
We all know this is where its going.
This arrangement should be fully investigated irrespective of whether or not any money actually changed hands. It beggars belief that the Serious Fraud Office would not fully investigate a UK-listed company in such circumstances.”
Neither the Kurdistan regional government nor Hawrami, were parties to or witnesses in the Excalibur litigation but the judge noted that Hawrami was a man whom it was agreed on all sides “to have detailed technical knowledge, to be a man of integrity and someone who would appreciate what was in the best interests of the Kurdistan regional government in considering bids and awarding contracts”.
Years after moving on from GKP, Kozel was arrested at JFK airport a week before Christmas 2018 and accused of hiding millions of dollars worth of assets in the Gokana Trust, which owned up to 6.5pc of GKP at various times, away from his ex-wife.
Charges of fraud and money-laundering, which he denied, have now been dropped and Kozel has instead pleaded guilty to charges of late filing of tax returns. His sentencing, likely to take place in August, has been delayed as he underwent treatment for throat cancer.
GKP, meanwhile, is under new management who are keen to distance themselves from the Kozel era. But the giant Shaikan oilfield that he secured, which has been producing since July 2013, is their only asset, producing 40,000-44,000 barrels a day.
A spokesman for GKP said that questions from The Telegraph and OCCRP relate to events that “predates the appointment of any of the current board or management team”.
He added: “The company is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance including ensuring we undertake appropriate due diligence and third party professional advice and has an appropriate share dealing code, disclosure and compliance procedures.”
A spokesman for Kozel said: “These claims from a decade ago have been investigated, litigated and adjudicated, with no findings of corruption, fraud or a failure to disclose.”
Berwari did not respond to a request for comment.
Hawrami made no comment.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/05/22/kurdish-oil-giant-spotlight-secret-deal-revealed/
The representation agreement (RA), seen by The Telegraph and OCCRP, was signed by Kozel on behalf of GKP International and Berwari as executive chairman of Dabin.
It covered payment for services including “general consulting and government relations services related to securing and managing the PSC [production sharing contract with the Kurdistan regional government],” as well as arranging meetings and introductions to political and financial organisations.
Nor were shareholders told when, less than three years later in March 2010, GKP wrote to Dabin to cancel the agreement after agreeing with the Kurdistan regional government that it might be illegal, according to court testimony. This was after oil was discovered at Shaikan in 2009 but before the oilfield started producing and therefore generating any revenue. New oil laws passed in August 2007 said public officials should not benefit from a production sharing contract.
According to testimony given in a dispute between GKP and Excalibur, Kozel’s company told the Kurdistan regional government “we have concluded that the above agreement may not be in compliance with Kurdistan law, in particular the petroleum legislation and the penal code which applies to the Kurdistan region of Iraq”. GKP declined to comment on what section of the penal code was referred to.
According to the judgment in that case, the Kurdistan regional government responded to the effect that “the KROGL [Kurdistan Region Oil and Gas Law] prohibited participation of any individual or organisation linked to government officials, political parties or influential individuals. That applied to Dabin in the light of Berwari’s links to the KDP.”
Dr Ashti Hawrami, the oil minister in Kurdistan is said to have indicated to Kozel as early as November 2007 that the Dabin agreement could not proceed and would be declared legally invalid.
An individual working in Iraq in 2015 contacted the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and, later, Wall Street regulators about the proposed agreement with Dabin Group, alleging that the agreement may amount to corruption and urging them to investigate.
The SFO met with the whistle-blower in London in 2015, but have not publicly pursued the matter. Now there are calls for them to look again.
Accord ‘highly concerning’
A spokesman for Kozel said the Dabin agreement “never came to be”. He added: “It was presented to the Kurdistan regional government; they objected and it was never implemented … Once the Kurdistan regional government passed its law, our agreement with Dabin was voided by both parties.”
The spokesman added: “Dabin had nothing to do with GKP receiving the contract.”
Ed Davey, investigator at anti-corruption group Global Witness, says: “The existence of a written agreement promising to pay a senior political official as part of an oilfield deal is highly concerning”.
“This arrangement should be fully investigated irrespective of whether or not any money actually
Todd Kozel could sense the opportunity as he arrived in Erbil for a visit in 2006. Miles of unexplored territory lay waiting as Kurdistan opened up its oil industry in the post-Saddam era.
The affable American was chief executive of Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP), which would go on to discover and develop one of the region’s richest oilfields.
The opportunities would turn GKP into a favourite of retail investors and Kozel into a very wealthy man. He would earn $66m (£47m) during his final years at the top, helping to fund his sports car habit.
Investor concerns over Kozel’s remuneration and repeated governance controversies dogged GKP. But in 2014 it graduated from the rough-and-tumble of Aim to join the grown-ups on the main market. At the same time Kozel stepped down and GKP’s directors hoped a calmer atmosphere would prevail.
Yet seven years later Kozel, now 54, continues to cast a shadow over the company. This summer he faces a potential jail sentence in New York after pleading guilty to failing to file personal tax returns including on his earnings as GKP chief executive.
Now an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph and OCCRP investigative journalism group has uncovered a secret deal struck by Kozel in Kurdistan that has prompted renewed calls for a corruption investigation. GKP agreed to funnel a 10th of its profits from a crucial oilfield to a company controlled by a senior politician. Investors were not told and the oilfield, Shaikan, is today GKP’s main asset.
Todd Kozel (right) with Inga Kozel and Roberto Curran at the opening of the Robert Curran Gallery in Miami in 2014
Todd Kozel (right) with wife Inga Kozel and Roberto Curran at the opening of the Robert Curran Gallery in Miami in 2014 Credit: Getty
Dabin comes on board
“If you don’t like risk, get into bond trading,” Kozel once said. It was an approach that took him a long way in his career. His high-profile divorce before marrying Lithuanian model Inga Buividaite has laid bare many of his business dealings.
Set up by Kozel with investors including the Emirates’ Al-Qasimi ruling family, GKP joined Aim in 2004 and entered Iraqi Kurdistan in the mid to late 2000s, initially as part of an aborted potential tie-up with the US firm Excalibur.
In November 2007, GKP signed a 25-year deal with the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) to develop the Shaikan block – 109 square miles of risky, under-explored territory to the north of Erbil. Kozel declared himself “delighted” in an announcement to the stock exchange the next day.
The company did not tell investors that on the same day, he also signed a deal to pay 10pc of net profits from Shaikan to the Dabin Group, a development company led by Izzeddin Berwari, a retired member of the Kurdistan regional government and senior member of the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party).
The drilling platform at Akri-Bijeel in Shaikan, Iraq, produces 40,000-44,000 barrels of oil a day
The drilling platform at Akri-Bijeel i
After todays tip this is far too cheap.