19 More Suspects Remanded in Custody in Capital Markets Investigation
A court in Istanbul has ordered the detention of 19 of the 21 people taken into custody as part of investigations into transactions in the capital markets. The remaining two suspects were placed under judicial control, according to the decisions issued after their questioning.
The suspects were brought to the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan, where prosecutors completed their interviews. All 21 were then referred to a criminal judgeship of peace with a request for pretrial detention. The judge ordered 19 to be held in custody and imposed judicial-control measures on the other two.
The latest decisions bring the total number of people detained in connection with the investigations to 45. The proceedings are being handled by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, through its bureau responsible for investigations into terrorist financing and money-laundering offenses.
The inquiry includes requests for financial records from the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, known by its Turkish abbreviation, MASAK. In a letter sent to the agency on September 17, prosecutors sought financial data relating to the executives of Pusula Finans Holding AŞ, Tera Yatırım Menkul Değerler AŞ, Hedef Holding AŞ and Bulls Yatırım Menkul Değerler AŞ, as well as their subsidiaries.
Prosecutors requested the full identifying information of the companies’ executives and raw records of their financial activity. The requested material includes transfers of money and crypto assets abroad from 2024 onward, along with records of incoming and outgoing funds.
Several business figures had already been detained in the investigation. Those previously named include Tera Yatırım Holding Chairman Emre Tezmen; board members Emre Alkin and Kerem Alkin; Tera Portföy General Manager Alper Öztürk; Pusula Holding Chairman Serdar Turhan; Pusula Portföy Yönetimi AŞ Chairman Muhammed Yarız; and Namık Kemal Gökalp, Altunç Kumova and İbrahim Bekçi.
Enver Çevik and Kemal Akkaya, who were also taken into custody, were released after giving statements to prosecutors. In a separate group of proceedings, Doğa Sigorta Chairman Nihat Kırmızı and Tera Yatırım board members Bülent Uygun and Abdulkadir Özkan were sent to court and remanded in custody.
The court also ordered the detention of several suspects sent to the courthouse the previous day: Furkan Baki, Murat Keçeci, Ramazan Erbey, İlhan Aygül, Salih Can Bülbül, Selçuk Kahya, Uğur Akkafa, Samet Çetinel, Celal Yarız, İsmail Ege, Mehmet Yıldırım, Lütfi Çetinel, Berkan Gülen and Mehmet Erbey. Three others in that group were placed under judicial control.
The latest decisions concern pretrial measures and do not, by themselves, establish that any suspect has committed a crime. The investigation remains ongoing, and the financial records requested by prosecutors are intended to help clarify the transactions under review.
In cases involving complex financial activity, investigators may examine the movement of funds across multiple companies and accounts, including transfers between domestic and overseas entities. Records of crypto-asset transactions can also be relevant when authorities are tracing the origin, destination and timing of payments.
Judicial control is an alternative to detention and may involve conditions imposed by a court while an investigation continues. The specific requirements are determined by the relevant judicial authority; the announcement did not detail the measures imposed on the two suspects in the latest group.
As the inquiry progresses, investigators are expected to assess the material collected from financial institutions and other records alongside statements taken from suspects. Any further decisions on detention or release will be made through the judicial process.