Match-fixing suspect sues US companies

Razı Canıklıgil - NEW YORK / Hürriyet

Serka’s owner Serdar Adalı (C) was responsible for Beşiktaş club’s football branch. AA photo

Serdar Adalı, a high-ranking Beşiktaş official currently under arrest for alleged match fixing, has sued two U.S. firms for allegedly not paying for food services rendered to U.S. soldiers in Iraq between 2006 and 2009.

Adalı, who also owns Serka İnşaat ve Ticaret A.Ş., a Turkish construction firm, is asking for $225 million in damages from Houston-based Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) and Washington D.C.-based ABC. According to the 19-page indictment, Serka İnşaat won the bid to feed U.S. soldiers in Mosul, Iraq, from both KBR and ABC.

There is also a $50 million disagreement between KBR and ABC, meaning that a separate court case will be heard in Washington, D.C., where ABC is based. Adalı is hoping that if the court forces KBR to pay the $50 million to ABC, then Serka could receive its share of the pie, according to daily Hürriyet.

Waleed al-Awadi, ABC’s Kuwaiti chairman, has refused to pay the damages, stating that the agreement with Serka between 2006 and 2009 was a “pay when paid” agreement.