Harsh response from NEW Party to the allegation that 'CHP coffers were emptied': 'If he needs tea money, let him know!'

NEW Party Group Deputy Chairman Murat Emir, regarding the allegations that CHP's TBMM accounts were emptied during the establishment of the NEW Party, said, "The money in question has nothing to do with the party's corporate structure, corporate account, accounts that were audited by the Court of Accounts and acquitted by the Constitutional Court, as they claim."

Regarding CHP GNAT Group Chairman Faik Öztrak, who made the claim, he said, "Why can't we distribute the money we collected in our group to 'collect and pay tea, coffee, entertainment money or compensation money if it occurs' to our friends? If Mr. Faik needs tea money, he should say it openly."

A 7-DAY WARNING WAS SENT TO 100 NEW PARTY PARTIES.

CHP GNAT Group Chairman Faik Öztrak said, regarding the NEW Party members who left the CHP, "I call out to my fellow MPs who joined the NEW Party. It is very likely that the group management of the period used the signatures you gave to be used in the objection to the Constitutional Court, without your knowledge, to empty the CHP Group's coffers. We expect you to do what is necessary." CHP General Presidency sent a 7-day warning to 100 members of the YENİ Party for the refund of the dues of 57 thousand liras per person.

NEW Party Group Deputy Chairman Murat Emir held a press conference in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

Emir said:

"This money is the accumulation of an amount decided by the MPs in a common pool with the decision of the Group General Assembly. Therefore, this money has nothing to do with the corporate identity and accounts of the political party. Let me show you a few of the decisions taken in advance. The Group General Assembly meets, makes a decision and says: 'The issue of receiving payments from the MPs in these periods will be submitted to the Group General Assembly for approval.' For example, what I have is an article dated 2022. A group decision is made and the MPs say; 'Let's collect this much money between us.' So, what will you do with this money, what is it being collected for?

This money is collected to cover the group's expenses. We looked at the payments we made before; Sometimes, because group staff work hard, there is a need to make additional payments or to pay wages during holidays and New Year's Eve, but these are met. Expenses related to research and publication, stationery expenses, food and tea expenses, legal liability for general chairmen; that is, compensation fees are paid. "Since these accounts are never included in the corporate account of the treasury or the political party, as claimed, they are not audited by the Court of Accounts."

"THE DEPUTY MEMBERS HAVE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THEM"

Noting that the money collected from the MPs cannot be considered as dues and therefore will not be within the scope of the Court of Accounts audit, Emir said, "The money in question has nothing to do with the party's institutional structure, corporate account, accounts that are subject to the Court of Accounts audit and acquitted by the Constitutional Court, as they claim. In fact, you cannot use the official money of a political party, for example, to pay the compensation amounts of a chairman. For this very reason, the MPs cooperated among themselves. When compensation decisions were made before, the MPs gathered together and paid the money, calling it 'collaboration money'." "The compensation obligations were met," he said.

The order added that the collected money was returned to the MPs by the decision of the Group General Assembly.