Türkiye
Vice President Yılmaz says ₺161bn has been paid out in the investment-fund scandal, without a lira from the budget
Developing
- What happened
- Cevdet Yılmaz told TRT Haber that 455,758 investors in liquidated funds have received ₺161bn, and that voluntary refunds have passed ₺33bn.
- Why it matters
- 131 funds of seven companies were put into liquidation after problems surfaced, and the government is under pressure to show investors are protected.
- What’s next
- State inspectors are still examining the institutions involved, and officials found responsible face investigations, Yılmaz said.
How this story developed
- 21:06First report
- 21:262nd source
- 21:26Confirmed
- 21:533rd source
- 23:24+2 outlets in 4 min
- 21:06First reportHürriyet
- 21:262nd sourceA Haber
- 21:26ConfirmedWas: Single source
- 21:533rd sourceHabertürk
- 23:24Latest+2 outlets in 4 minNTV and Anadolu Ajansı
Full story
How the scandal began
Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz gave the latest figures on Türkiye’s investment-fund scandal in a live interview with TRT Haber on Saturday evening, as Hürriyet, A Haber, Habertürk, NTV and Anadolu Agency reported. He said the problem had been building for a long time and came to light after the Capital Markets Board (SPK) published a new fund guide on 28 August.
As a first step, 131 funds belonging to seven companies were put into liquidation, which Yılmaz described as a kind of quarantine. A summit chaired by President Erdoğan followed. The State Supervisory Council (DDK), the presidency’s top inspection body, was ordered to examine the institutions involved; Yılmaz said a large number of inspectors are now in the field, and investigations are opened when responsible officials are identified. The judicial investigation, led by the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office, runs alongside it.
₺161bn paid out
Yılmaz, who chairs a Fund Coordination Board set up on Erdoğan’s instructions, said the board held its tenth meeting on Friday. According to NTV, he said ₺161bn had been paid to 455,758 investors so far, 444,987 individual investors had received a payment, and 371,021 had got back their whole net investment or portfolio value. A law passed for the liquidation provides for payments of up to ₺1m, with priority for small investors and money-market funds, Habertürk reported.
He said not a single lira of the payments had come from the budget or the Treasury. The money comes from the assets left in the funds, from voluntary refunds, which he put at more than ₺33bn, and from gains to be clawed back from people who profited unfairly. The deposit insurance fund TMSF has opened a separate account for each of the 131 funds plus a general one, and the financial crimes board MASAK is also working on the clawbacks, Habertürk reported.
“Wheat from the chaff”
Yılmaz said the stock exchange had not been hurt by the process and that the many funds unrelated to the scandal must be protected.
“We must not mix the wheat with the chaff. This is like an illness. While treating it, we must not harm the body, and the body is our capital markets.”
Cevdet Yılmaz, Vice President, NTV(translated)
He told NTV that every entry and exit, every deposit and withdrawal by every investor is on the state’s records through the Central Registry Agency, and that “there is nothing off the books here”.