TIGEM's 1,440 tons of pistachios still uncollected: 95.4 million TL in limbo

The General Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises (TIGEM) has still failed to collect 95 million 409 thousand TL owed from the sale of 1,440 tons of Antep pistachios to Crypto Carbon Energy in 2023. The total sale price was set at 136 million 304 thousand TL.

Questioned on his accounts at the Parliamentary Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (KIT), TIGEM General Director Hasan Gezginç summarized the process in response to a question from Mehmet Tahtasız, YENİ Party deputy from Çorum: Crypto Carbon won the tender with the highest bid, 30 percent of the price was received in cash, and a guarantee note was accepted for the remainder. However, the company's license was revoked two months later and the debt was not paid.

TIGEM subsequently filed a lawsuit against the company and initiated enforcement proceedings on 42 properties. Gezginç said, "We are determined to collect the receivable."

Accepting only a note guarantee in the sale of pistachios, which are public property, and delivering goods on this scale to a company whose license was later revoked, highlights gaps in oversight of state-owned enterprises. The Ceylanpınar Facility in question operates one of the country's largest state agricultural lands; the committee did not ask whether a similar receivable problem had occurred in the past.