At the divorce hearing, Kozel’s attorney Mark Luttier said the fine, which hasn’t been paid in full, represented about 25 percent of the highest total Kozel held in offshore accounts. His wife’s attorney, Jeffrey Fisher, told the Florida judge he was concerned about the validity of Kozel’s tax disclosure.
“There is a lot of misinformation in that voluntary disclosure file,” he said.
The hearing in Florida was adjourned when the Kozels announced they had reached a tentative settlement.
Kozel’s holdings in Gulf Keystone are “opaquely structured and incompletely disclosed,” according to court papers filed by Excalibur Ventures LLC in its London lawsuit against the company.
While Kozel is publicly listed as owning about 1.6 percent of Gulf Keystone, lawyers for his wife and Excalibur say they have identified links with offshore trusts and affiliated companies which own more shares.
Excalibur, which is suing Gulf Keystone for 30 percent of its Kurdish oil assets, says Kozel is a beneficiary of Gokana Trust, an investment vehicle which is the company’s eighth biggest shareholder.
Kozel denies he is a beneficiary of Gokana and said he has complied with market rules. He was awarded salary, cash and shares worth a total of $9.98 million as chief executive officer and chairman Gulf Keystone in 2010, according to the company’s annual report.
(Source: Bloomberg)
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