Who is the first non-Muslim minister of the Ottoman Empire?

Garabed, who first went to Vienna, could not find anyone to undertake the job there. He went from Vienna to Paris and contacted the banker Baron Maurice de Hirsch. In 1869, a preliminary agreement was signed with Baron Hirsch, who was originally a Hungarian Jew, granting him the right to build and operate the railway in Rumelia for 99 years. The parliament recalled Garabed to brief him on the agreement. Garabed stated that he was not fully familiar with the contract and that he had the text prepared by a lawyer. Garabed was sent back to Europe to reorganize the agreement and soften some conditions.

But this time, an agreement was made against the Ottomans and the wheels of tender corruption began to turn. Thereupon, rumors arose that Garabed had taken bribes. Following these rumors, Garabed resigned, using his illness as an excuse. Hirsch promised that the railway's capital would be provided by him. The contract was signed on April 17, 1869. The contract, which Hirsch's lawyer made extremely complicated, was accepted by the government as is.

The right to build and operate the railway for 99 years was given to Hirsch. For railway construction, capital had to be provided first. At Hirsch's suggestion, the state launched one million 900 thousand bonds, each worth 400 French francs. Hirsch bought these bonds from the government for 128.5 French francs each and immediately sold them to another bank for 150 French francs each. Hirsch earned 42 million 570 thousand francs from the very beginning, without taking any risks. He also took part in the launch of bonds. Once construction started, corruption continued. Hirsch was receiving 200 thousand francs per kilometer of the line.

Which businessman financed the railways of the Ottoman Empire in Rumelia?

Moritz Freiherr von Hirsch auf Gereuth (9 December 1831 – 21 April 1896), commonly known as Maurice de Hirsch, was a German Jewish financier and philanthropist who set up charitable foundations to promote Jewish education and improve the lot of oppressed European Jewry. He was the founder of the Jewish Colonization Association, which sponsored large-scale Jewish immigration to Argentina.

However, since he transferred the construction work to subcontractors, he was paying them 100 thousand francs per kilometer. In this case, maximum savings were made in construction and materials, so the lines were poorly constructed. Between 1860 and 1875, Hirsch built 1,279 kilometers of railway instead of 2 thousand kilometers and handed it over to the state. While Hirsch was a bankrupt banker with no capital when he received the tender, he suddenly became one of the richest people in Europe with the enormous amount of 350 million francs he earned from this job through legal and illegal means. According to the famous historian and statesman Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, Hirsch's actions constituted the "first example" of opening the doors to bribery and corruption in such tenders in Turkey.

Cevdet Pasha says in his memoirs: “I served in the government and the Tanzimat Assembly for years, such contracts always passed through my hands; Neither I nor other statesmen even thought of getting money from such tenders related to the development of the country. At that time, this breakthrough had not yet been broken. Hirsch was the first to initiate giving money to civil servants for such things in Istanbul. More than four thousand documents related to Hirsch's affairs were extracted and examined for a year. As a result of the investigations, such wrong and exorbitant practices were seen that they could not be called heedlessness, it was understood that they were all the result of bribery and stealing.”

Baron Maurice de Hirsch, one of the most important names who financed the establishment of Israel, obtained his wealth by robbing the Ottoman Empire. As a result of this corruption, a debt of 790 million francs was incurred for the Rumelian railways, for which 190 million francs were supposed to be paid...

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Borderless finance: Maurice de Hirsch and the derailing of Europe

https://www.thearticle.com/borderless-finance-maurice-de-hirsch-and-the-derailing-of-europe