Doğan accused of ‘fixing' court process

Sabah, a Turkish newspaper, claimed yesterday that two Doğan Holding lawyers, identified as N.T. and N.G., were at the İstanbul Tax Court last Friday. The daily claimed that the two people had bribed court officials to make sure that a specific court the Doğan group would like to be tried by is appointed to their case. Sabah also claimed that a majority of a total of 60 cases filed by Doğan against tax agencies were mostly handled by the same courts, the 6th Tax Court standing out as the court hearing Doğan-related cases most frequently.

The Sabah daily claimed that Doğan experts and lawyers have been resubmitting and taking back files to the court repeatedly, apparently in an attempt to bypass the court's computerized court date allocation system. The Sabah daily stated that the holding had submitted 179 files in between four ongoing trials, withdrawing most of them. It explained that this way -- buy filing and then withdrawing complaints -- the lawyers would be able to make sure that their file is handled by their preferred court when its turn comes along in the system.

A court on Tuesday rejected a challenge by Doğan to the tax authorities' demand for $3.3 billion in collateral to appeal a fine. The court case was filed by Doğan TV Holding, D Yapım Reklamcılık, Doğan Produksiyon Hizmetleri and Alp Görsel İletişim. Shares in Doğan Yayın ended the morning session down 0.93 percent at TL 1.06 in İstanbul.

The alleged tax payment irregularities have raised concerns about Doğan Yayın's ability to pay the fine without selling assets. The company's fine for alleged tax irregularities at its publishing companies between 2005 and 2007 increased to TL 4.8 billion last week due to interest and penalties. The fine is larger than the annual sales of Doğan Yayın and is more than the combined market value of Doğan Yayın and parent company Doğan Holding.

Doğan owns top-selling daily Hürriyet and co-owns with Time Warner CNN Türk. Doğan Yayın was separately fined $500 million in February for alleged improprieties connected to the sale of shares to Germany's media giant Axel Springer. The owner of the holding, Aydın Doğan, has been accused of using his newspapers, television stations and magazines to further his business interests. When rival ATV-Sabah media group was seized by the Turkish state for irregularities, Doğan was not vocal in criticizing the move.