The investment funds crisis, which caused a profound shock in the Istanbul Stock Exchange, toppled the vice-president of the ruling Justice and Development Party, after the opposition revealed her and her husband’s involvement in making huge gains through stock manipulation.
The Justice and Development Party's Vice President for Social Policies and the former Minister of Family and Social Policies, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, announced her resignation from her position in the party after revealing her and her husband's involvement in the stock market investment funds scandal, investigations into which were launched on September 16 of this year, and which affected a number of large companies with the freezing of 131 investment funds in preparation for their liquidation due to involvement in stock manipulation and fraud, which harmed more than 455,000. Investor.
Sayan Kaya said, through her “X” account late at night on Saturday - Sunday, that she “deems it necessary to bear political responsibility to ensure that her position is not exposed to any controversy during the process of clarifying the allegations against her, and to ensure that the investigation and interrogation are conducted independently and fairly, without any manipulation or distortion... Therefore, I asked our esteemed president to relieve me of all my duties.”
The Vice Chairman of the Justice and Development Party, Omer Celik, announced in a press conference on Sunday that President Erdogan had accepted Sayan Kaya’s resignation from her position, and that she was also no longer a member of the Central Executive Committee and the Central Disciplinary Committee of the party. He stressed that if there is any allegation, it will be investigated, all violations will be revealed, and everyone who committed a mistake will be held accountable before the law, “based on the principle of our president (Erdogan) that everyone who commits a mistake will be held accountable.”
Celik emphasized that no one can seize the people's savings, lie, manipulate the economy, or assassinate and obstruct the nation's progress, pointing out the continued careful assessment of the conditions of those affected, and that there is no structural danger in the Turkish economy, and those responsible will be held accountable, and at the same time, all necessary measures are being taken to prevent the recurrence of these matters.
The involvement of Kaya and her husband came during a press conference by the spokesman for the “New Party”, the largest Turkish opposition party, Zeynel Emre, in Istanbul on Saturday evening, in which he revealed with documents that, starting on April 8, Sayan Kaya bought 250,000 shares of the company “Ozata” at a price of 255 liras per share, and by this September, she sold these shares at a price of 4,482 Turkish liras per share. One, and her husband bought 155 thousand shares and sold them in the same way.
He added that the couple paid a total of 163 million and 46 thousand Turkish liras, and withdrew 2 billion and 170 million Turkish liras through 3 bank accounts inside Turkey and one outside it, since the beginning of this September, and they achieved a profit of 2 billion 6 million and 954 thousand Turkish liras through these transactions.
Emre pointed out the timing of the couple’s transactions in light of the recent fund crisis on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, saying: “There are those who whispered in their ears to withdraw funds before September 16, and that the Ministry of Treasury and Finance and the Capital Markets Authority were aware of these suspicious transactions months ago,” wondering why the authorities did not intervene and stop them in a timely manner.
It was stated that some of the companies involved and their board members had close ties to the government, and that the rise in the value of closed-end funds was inconsistent with the real economy.
On Sunday, the Public Prosecution in Istanbul issued a decision to impose precautionary measures to prevent her, her husband, and their children from acting, provided that sales and transfer operations, as well as money transfers, are subject to the approval of the Public Prosecution, with the freezing of securities, and verification of the records of lands, ships, and aircraft owned by them.
The prosecution had previously decided, on Friday, to arrest the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ozata Denizcelik Company, Ozdemir Ataseven, and his deputy, Gokhan Ata Sevin, as part of the ongoing investigation into the crisis, which accelerated after the Turkish Capital Markets Board in early September amended the investment rules for hedge funds, so that the fund was no longer allowed to invest all of its assets in one stock, while requiring it to diversify its investments.
The Turkish Capital Markets Board decided to liquidate the 131 investment funds; 51 people were arrested, including a former vice president of the Central Bank.
Official data revealed that the total assets of the funds decreased by 510 billion liras (about 11 billion dollars), between the end of last August and the current September 18, as investors withdrew their funds extensively.
The funds recorded outflows worth 411 billion Turkish liras, according to financial analysis platforms, affected by the increase in exit waves and the decline in market valuations for securities listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
The leader of the opposition, head of the “New Party,” Ozgur Ozil, pledged to reveal the names of officials and members of the ruling party involved in plundering the people’s money.
Ozil said, in a speech during a party meeting in the city of Balikesir (western Turkey) on Sunday, that unless the actions of government ministers, the judiciary, those in the (presidential) palace, and senior members of the “Justice and Development” Party involved are exposed, and unless the rights of the nation are restored and these individuals are punished, Erdogan, if he continues in power, will be primarily responsible for this plundering, adding: “I call on Erdogan to work with us to uncover the dimensions of manipulation of the people’s money, otherwise he will drown.”
