Within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against the Central Referee Board, Super League referee Yasin Kol and assistant referee Göktuğ Hazar Erel were detained on charges of 'violation of law no. 7258', 'participation in the crime of forgery of documents' and 'abuse of office' after the friendly match played between Trabzonspor and Drogheda United in Trabzon.
Super League referee Yasin Kol and assistant referee Göktuğ Hazar Erel were arrested after their statements at the prosecutor's office.
Yasin Kol was found guilty of match-fixing and encouragement, and Göktuğ Hazar Erel was found guilty of forgery of official documents and arrested.
50 ACCOUNTS IN 11 BANKES, 41 SEPARATE IBANS; RAPID INCREASE IN MONEY TRAFFIC AFTER 2024
On the other hand, the report prepared by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) about the Super League referee Yasin Kol has been revealed.
According to the MASAK investigation report about the arrested Yasin Kol; 50 account records and 41 different IBANs were found in 11 banks in the name of Kol. When the movements between its own accounts are removed, Kol; It was determined that he received 25 million 301 thousand 671 liras from 187 different people and sent 24 million 179 thousand 269 liras to 407 people.
It was particularly noted in the report that the number of people to whom money was sent was more than twice the number of people who received money. There has been a significant increase in bank transactions, especially in recent years. While transfer entries were at the level of 587 thousand liras in 2020, they increased to 6 million 632 thousand liras in 2025, and to 8 million 218 thousand liras only in the part of 2026 until September 14.
In 2026, the transfer amount from the accounts reached 12 million 759 thousand lira. 5 million lira of this amount was a real estate payment, and 4 million 731 thousand 700 lira was made up of transfers to Dilay Kol.
58 PERCENT OF THE MONEY INCOMING IS FROM REAL PERSONS
In Yasin Kol's social security records, it was seen that he had been working as a security guard at the Rectorate of Karadeniz Technical University since 2018 and that he had also received referee payment from TFF. In the 2018-2026 period, the total of 9 million 433 thousand liras coming from TFF and KTÜ constituted only 37.65 percent of transfer inflows.
On the other hand, it was determined that 58.15 percent of the money entering the accounts came from real persons. Of the 15.6 million lira inflow outside institutions, approximately 4 million 986 thousand liras were declared as "debt" or "debt refund".
THE FACT THAT DRAWS ATTENTION: 50 TRANSFERS AROUND THE MATCH
One of the expert's most striking analyzes was regarding the money transfers made with the referees who worked in the same match with Yasin Kol. 64 bank counterparties matching those who took part in at least one match with Kol were identified. While 218 thousand 668 liras came to Kol from these people, 853 thousand 472 liras came from Kol to the same names.
The more striking finding emerged when the transfer dates were compared with the match calendar. The 50 bank transactions made with people working in the same match occurred within a six-day period between three days before and two days after the joint match. 47 of these were payments from Yasin Kol to other referees.
In 44 of 47 payments, Yasin Kol was the referee of the match, and the people to whom money was sent were the assistant or fourth referee. And 40 transfers were made after the match started. In the control test he carried out by shifting the match dates forward and backward by weeks, the expert determined that the concentration of 50 transfers could not be reached in any of the 24 different calendars and noted that the distribution in question did not appear to be random. However, the report underlined that the reason for the payments could not be determined from bank records.
MONEY MOVEMENT DURING HIS OFFICE
In the security report, money movements on some competition days were also separately recorded. Kol sent 4 thousand liras to Abdulaziz Solmaz on the day he became the VAR referee in the Gaziantep FK-Kayserispor match on April 20, 2026, and received 2 thousand 500 liras from Osman Sezgin on the same day; 700 lira from Necmi Yılmaz on the day he served as referee in the Eyüpspor-Samsunspor match on April 13; It was recorded in the minutes that he received 750 lira from Naciye İmamoğlu while he was the VAR referee in the Sivasspor-Mardinspor match on September 2.
One of the notable names in the file was Onur Tomak. According to the expert examination, 1 million 880 thousand liras came from Onur Tomak to Yasin Kol in 12 transactions, and an additional 100 thousand liras came from the tax identification number of the same name. No transfer was detected from Kol to Tomak.
In his police statement, Yasin Kol explained that he was Onur Tomak's lawyer and that the compensation collected from the lawsuits filed against people who insulted him on the internet were sent to him by his lawyer. However, it was revealed that in the bank records, the description of a transfer of 540 thousand liras contained the expression "debted money", and the description of another transaction worth 290 thousand liras contained the expression "sent as a debt".
Moreover, it was determined that Onur Tomak's name was also on the candidate list and winners list for the referee promotion exam in 2024. The expert also noted that since there is no identification number in the record, it cannot be determined that the person who sent money from the bank and the person on the list are the same person.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Within the scope of the "Referees file" investigation carried out by Istanbul Police Department Financial Crimes Branch teams under the coordination of Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Illegal Betting and Sports Crimes Bureau, it was determined that there were allegations of "torture" and "forgery of official documents" against some suspects.
As a result of open source research, MASAK and HTS studies, complainant and witness statements and expert findings within the scope of the file, it was evaluated that MHK President Ferhat Gündoğdu and some MHK member referees and observers may be connected to the crime.
Thereupon, the operation was carried out at the addresses determined in Istanbul, Ankara, Elazığ and Manisa, including Ferhat Gündoğdu, President of the Turkish Active Football Referees Association Ferdi Karadoruk, former TFF Central Referee Board Deputy Chairman Ahmet Şahin, former TFF Central Referee Board Member Yunus Yıldırım, TFF Education and 4th Region Officer Sebahattin Şahin, Turkey Active Football Referees and Observers Association Istanbul Branch Organization Officer Alican. Sağlar and Turkish Active Football Referees and Observers Association Istanbul Provincial Referee Board President Emre Kosif were taken into custody.
While the suspects Gündoğdu, Kosif, Karadoruk, Yıldırım and Sağlar were arrested, judicial control measures in the form of "ban on going abroad" and "signature" were imposed on Sebahattin Şahin and Ahmet Şahin.
It was reported that within the scope of the investigation, Super League referee Yasin Kol and Super League assistant referee Göktuğ Hazar Erel were also detained by Istanbul Police Department Financial Crimes Branch teams.
