Turkey’s court remands former minister Kaya in fund case
An Istanbul court ordered Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya held pending trial on capital-markets and criminal-organization charges. Kaya and her husband deny wrongdoing.
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An Istanbul court ordered Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya held pending trial on capital-markets and criminal-organization charges. Kaya and her husband deny wrongdoing.
An Istanbul court remanded former Turkish family minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya in custody pending trial on 6 November, on charges of violating capital-markets law and membership of an organization established to commit crimes. State-run Anadolu gave the charges, as cited by DW. Kaya denies wrongdoing.
Kaya was family minister from 2016 to 2018 and resigned as a deputy chair of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party on 26 September, after opposition allegations about her investment profits.
The court released her husband, İlyas Kaya, and former Capital Markets Board chairman İbrahim Ömer Gönül under judicial supervision. Both had been questioned as suspects and must report regularly to authorities; they are also barred from traveling abroad.
Istanbul prosecutors allege that Kaya knew funds would be liquidated before she transferred shares in Özata Denizcilik. Their referral document says she bought the shares in April 2026 and transferred them directly to investment company Tera Yatırım on 16 September, receiving payment that day. The fund liquidation decision followed on 17 September.
Prosecutors pointed to the same-day payment, compared with the usual settlement period of two business days for the shares. They also cited the size of Kaya’s first stock-market investment, her contacts with Tera executives and the transfer’s timing. Taken together, prosecutors alleged, these indicated she knew in advance the range in which the share price would move. The Capital Markets Board assessed that Kaya possessed undisclosed information that could affect the share price or investors’ decisions and referred the matter to prosecutors.
In requesting detention, prosecutors said there were grounds for strong suspicion of an offense and argued that supervision would be insufficient because of the risks of flight and interference with evidence.
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In their first statements to prosecutors on 7 October, Kaya said she made her own investment decisions without direction or special information. Her husband said his transactions were lawful and did not involve manipulation. The couple said they had transferred amounts appearing as investment gains to an account designated by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund.
Separately from the charges, opposition politician Zeynel Emre accused the couple of receiving 2.17 billion lira after investing 163 million lira and selling shortly before the fund crisis.
The broader investigation concerns alleged market manipulation affecting the savings of nearly 500,000 investors. On 3 November, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said there were 433 suspects, including 112 in pretrial detention. Those figures preceded Kaya’s remand.
Opposition leader Özgür Özel blamed Erdoğan for the crisis and called for the president to resign or hold elections. Özel alleged that members of the committee Erdoğan set up to deal with the fund crisis had themselves been detained in the same investigations. The investigation continues.
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