Statement from Minister of Justice Gürlek on fund investigation: Assets were frozen

Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek made the following statements in his statement on his social media account:

"We protect the rights of our citizens! Our priority in the fund investigation, which is closely followed by our President, Mr. Erdoğan, is to protect the rights of our citizens, not to allow their savings to be exploited, and to ensure that the grievances they have suffered are redressed within the framework of the conditions stipulated by the law.

In the investigation carried out by the Laundering Crimes Investigation Bureau of our Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office within the scope of the crimes of "establishing and becoming a member of an organization for the purpose of committing a crime", "qualified fraud", "laundering of assets resulting from crime" and "opposition to the capital market law", efforts are continuing to reveal all aspects of money movements.

In this context, a new step has been taken today; Money outflows from the funds between 1 July and 16 August were examined, starting from the highest amount, and the assets of 46 legal entities, 18 funds and 42 real persons were frozen; Judicial control measures in the form of travel bans were imposed on 37 suspects, for whom no precautions had been taken before.

In this context; Preventing transfer, assignment, sale, donation, mortgage and lien establishment, account closure, high amount cash withdrawal, EFT/transfer and other transactions that reduce assets; Memorandums have been written to all relevant institutions and organizations to freeze capital market instruments and to report suspicious transactions to the judicial authorities without delay.

Our aim is clear: To prevent the asset values subject to investigation from being smuggled, changed hands or transferred to third parties; to secure the values determined to have been obtained from crime and to ensure that our victimized citizens regain their rights.

Regardless of which account the money was transferred to or which company or person the assets were transferred to; We will follow your trail to the end. We will never allow the savings accumulated over the years by our well-intentioned citizens to be exploited by some individuals and structures.

We will reveal illegal transactions and their connections, and we will resolutely implement all necessary legal measures to protect the rights of our victimized citizens within the framework of the conditions stipulated by the law.

"We will fight to the end with all the opportunities the law gives us to protect the rights, labor and savings of our citizens."