Turkish police take away shoe boxes stashed with US$4.5m
Print Edition
Istanbul police leading a major corruption and bribery investigation targeting allies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have seized shoe boxes stashed with US$4.5 million at the home of a state-owned bank’s CEO, a Turkish news agency said yesterday.
Dozens of people, including the bank’s CEO and the sons of three key government ministers, were detained on Tuesday for questioning in raids as part of the investigation which threatens to rock Erdogan’s 11-year tenure.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said more than 50 people were in police custody as part of the investigation. Other reports said as many as 84 people were detained.
Many believe the police operation is the fallout of a deepening rift between Erdogan’s government and a powerful US-based moderate Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whose followers are reported to have a strong foothold within Turkey’s police and judiciary.
Police searching the home of Halk Bank’s CEO, Suleyman Aslan, discovered the shoe boxes containing money on his bookshelves, the Dogan news agency reported. It said Aslan’s wife, who was also detained, was heard in a wiretapped telephone conversation as saying “the greens have arrived,’ allegedly in reference to dollar bills.
Dogan, a reliable news source, cited unidentified judicial officials for its report. A national police official said he could not immediately confirm the report, while officials at the Interior Ministry refused comment. Halk Bank said police had requested information concerning their investigation but had no other comment on the case.
Analysts say the investigation is the latest round of a power struggle between Gulen and Erdogan’s government. The cleric’s movement long supported Erdogan’s Islamic-based Justice and Development Party but has fallen out with the Turkish leader over his plans to close down private cram schools that are a major source of income for his group.
In a sign that Erdogan was fighting back against the probe, five senior police officials were removed from duty yesterday, Turkish media reports said. They included commissioners in charge of combatting organized crime, smuggling and criminal financial activity and oversaw the corruption detentions, according to Dogan.
Erdogan has suggested that the probe is a politically motivated “dirty trap” to harm his government. The probe comes ahead of local polls in March that are largely seen as a vote of confidence in Erdogan’s government.
Erdogan himself is expected to be a candidate in the presidential election in August.
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