Turkish prosecutors have moved to freeze the assets of a former minister and senior ruling party official who resigned at the weekend over allegations that she profited from an investment fund crisis.
In a brief statement late Tuesday, prosecutors said they had sent “a letter concerning the freezing of all assets” of Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya and her husband, Ilyas Kaya, to “all the relevant institutions”.
Turkey has been hit by an investment fund scandal following the collapse of a scheme that officials have described as “Ponzi-like” earlier this month.
In mid-September, several funds said they could not meet investor redemption demands, sending Istanbul’s main stock exchange tumbling. A day later, regulators placed into liquidation seven companies holding 131 investment funds, with assets reportedly worth around $17 billion. The Capital Markets Board (SPK) said more than 455,000 individual investors were affected.
Kaya, deputy head of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP and Turkey’s family minister from 2016 to 2018, announced her resignation late on Saturday.
It followed days of speculation and allegations by the main opposition Yeni Parti that she and her husband had made millions trading shares in the funds.
She admitted no wrongdoing, saying she was taking “political responsibility” so that any investigation could be carried out “independently, impartially”.
Earlier on Saturday, Yeni Parti said it was seeking clarification of claims that the couple invested 63 million lira ($1.3 million) in April and cashed in their shares in September for some 1.3 billion lira ($26.5 million).
At a news conference, the party’s Gokhan Gunaydin said it was “clear” she had received insider information, and pledged that the party would reveal more names this week.
