Three arrested in the investment fund probe, including a former Takasbank CEO, bringing the total to 123

The court's decision

A decision has come on seven suspects detained on 9 November in the investment fund investigation that the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is running into capital market transactions. According to Hürriyet, DW Türkçe and BBC Türkçe, a criminal judgeship of peace ordered three of them to be arrested and held pending trial.

Those arrested were former Takasbank CEO Yunus Arıncı, OMG Capital Advisors chairman Ömer Murat Gülkan and Ali Paslı, one of the shareholders of Adil Katılım Bank.

According to DW Türkçe, Bulls Yatırım chairman Kemal Akkaya, Ruzy Madencilik chairman Nureddin Çevik, Lydia chairman Enver Çevik and Maygold Otomotiv chairman Ayhan Yazkan were released under judicial control in the form of house arrest.

Arıncı had already given a statement

According to DW Türkçe, Arıncı gave a statement as a suspect on 1 November and was then banned from leaving the country and ordered to report to the authorities regularly. He resigned from his post afterwards.

BBC Türkçe reported that Enver Çevik, who was put under house arrest, was among those whose assets had earlier been frozen, and that he also chairs the boards of Lydia Yeşil Enerji Kaynakları, Ufuk Yatırım Yönetim ve Gayrimenkul and EC Gayrimenkul.

The scale of the investigation

With the latest decisions, the number of people arrested in the investigation has risen to 123. According to BBC Türkçe, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said that as of 9 November the investigation had 464 suspects, 120 of them under arrest, that 262 people had been placed under judicial control, and that arrest warrants had been issued for 40 suspects at large.

According to Gürlek, cash, property and shares worth about 31.5 billion lira had been voluntarily handed over to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) as of the same date. BBC Türkçe also wrote that BDDK Deputy Chairman Muhammet Erişen and Adil Katılım Bank CEO Murat Yönaç had reportedly been arrested.

According to a timeline compiled by Diken, nine businesspeople, including the owners of the fund companies Tera, Pusula, Destek and Hedef, were arrested in the first wave of the investigation. On 9 October Gürlek announced that 187 billion lira in unlawful fund gains had been identified.

Also according to Diken, it emerged on 26 September that former family minister and AKP deputy chair Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya had made a 21-fold profit through a fund, and she resigned. On 14 October, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek authorised an investigation into former Capital Markets Board chairman İbrahim Ömer Gönül.

On the same day, banking regulator head Şahap Kavcıoğlu also stepped down, citing the allegations about the agency.