How a scuttled plan provides rare insight into how a foreign investor regarded a son of President Erdogan as a key person to gain access to the Turkish leader
The proposed plan was detailed in communications and business documents seen by Reuters, as well as by a person familiar with the matter. Reuters is reporting this plan and the resulting preliminary probes for the first time.
The company's plan, according to the complaint, was for the administration of President Erdogan to pass regulations that would boost sales of Dignita's product: dashboard breathalyzers that lock a vehicle's ignition when the driver is inebriated. Reuters was unable to confirm independently whether President Erdogan and his son Bilal were aware of, or had involvement in Dignita's alleged kickback scheme.
"Upon learning of potentially concerning conduct regarding future business opportunities in Turkey, we promptly investigated and took corrective action, including terminating the sole employee and the third-party consultants involved," the company said in a statement to Reuters. "As a result, we have not moved forward with doing business in Turkey.
Under the first part of the strategy, laid out in detail in an 11-page "marketing exploration agreement" seen by Reuters, a Turkish affiliate of Smart Start committed to pay regular consultancy fees to an Istanbul-based shell company controlled by a person handpicked by the Swedish and U.S. firms. The two foundations have expanded into large social-welfare operations underpinning what opposition leaders have described as a nationwide patronage system used by President Erdogan to look after his voters.
Dignita set foot in Turkey in 2017 with the ambition of selling its traffic-safety devices. That year, Eriksson, the Dignita CEO, took the helm of the Turkish company set up by Smart Start, Turkish corporate records show. Some countries require public transport operators as well as convicted drunk drivers to equip their vehicles with ignition locking systems. Before turning on the engine, a driver must blow into a mouthpiece: if the breath-alcohol concentration is greater than the legally permitted limit, the device prevents the engine from starting.
Eriksson also made clear that Dignita wouldn't pay any lobbying fees until it began earning money in Turkey. "If they don't agree, we better stop because we will never be allowed by our owners to pay them before we get paid," the CEO said in a June 14 message.
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