Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office took action against 49 suspects in the Friends Association donations investigation

Within the scope of the "Friends' criminal organization" investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the procedures of the 49 suspects who were detained by the Istanbul Police Department Financial Crimes Branch teams were completed.

After the health check, the suspects were taken to the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan.

Of the suspects whose statements were taken at the prosecutor's office, 20 were referred to the criminal judgeship of peace with a request for arrest, 8 for "house arrest" and 21 for judicial control in the form of "signing" and "ban on leaving the country".

The judgeship decided to arrest 20 suspects in line with the request.

Eight of the suspects were sentenced to "house arrest", and 21 of them were sentenced to judicial control measures such as "signing" and "ban on leaving the country".

WHAT HAPPENED?

Within the scope of the investigation, an investigation was launched into the fate of the donations collected through the Buddy Association following the earthquakes on February 6, 2023. The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced that as a result of examining the inspector and special audit reports of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the association's inventory and financial records, bank movements, suspect statements and other evidence, it was determined that a large number of materials, including tents, wheelchairs, electric bicycles and stationery products collected for earthquake victims in the warehouses in Izmit, were left to rot.

In the investigation, it was determined that 4.3 billion liras of donations were collected for the association between February 6 and December 31, 2023, and 4.2 billion liras of this was spent.

It was reported that 950 million liras of the collected donations were withdrawn in cash between 13 February and 25 May 2023, one of the transactions was 500 million liras at a time, over 2 billion liras were used in housing projects, and over 1 billion liras were used in the purchase of goods and services.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had announced that housing and school expenses were examined by an expert panel formed within TOKİ General Directorate, and goods and service purchases were examined by a separate expert panel.

It was also stated in the investigation that some suspects who had an organic membership or accounting relationship with the association established a transportation company and gained personal benefit from the transportation of earthquake aid, and that some of the aid stated to be delivered to public institutions was missing from the amounts in the invoices.

Following these findings, a fifth wave operation was organized, covering 53 suspects, and 45 people were detained. As the investigation continued, 4 more suspects were caught.