An Istanbul penal (sulh) court has appointed Turkey’s deposit insurance fund TMSF as trustee at fintech Payco, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office (@istanbulCBS) said on December 5.

Payco is accused of money laundering in relation to illegal betting and schemes involving fraudulent FX trading. Eleven suspects have been detained.

Istanbul-based Payco Elektronik Para, launched in 2020, is a licensed electronic money provider in Turkey.

Seven electronic money providers

Since February, Turkey’s government has instigated a wide range of judicial operations. Each day, people are arrested and companies are seized.

(See the latest situation with company seizures here and with political operations here.)

Seven of the seized companies are electronic money providers. The licences of five have been revoked.

Additionally, an authorised payment institution, namely Paybull, has been seized along with two cryptocurrency exchange platform providers.  

A bank, namely Bankpozitif, was also seized while the owners of an investment bank, namely Q Yatirim Bankasi, were arrested, but there has been no seizure of that entity as yet.

Ankaraspor and Adana Demirspor owners detained

Also on December 5, the prosecutor’s office said that it has detained the owners of Ankaraspor (Ahmet Okatan) and Adana Demirspor (Murat Sancak) along with club directors.

Dozens of footballers in addition to one referee and TV commentators were also detained.

Showbahis owners and directors detained

On December 9, the prosecutor’s office said that it had detained 20 suspects over the operation of an illegal betting scheme via Showbahis.com.

Assets, including bank accounts, real estate and vehicles of the suspects, were also seized.

There are many companies and websites based outside Turkey that provide illegal betting and gambling services to the Turkish market.

Fenerbahce president’s company acquitted

On December 2, the prosecutor’s office said that Tuttur was acquitted of accusations following inspections.

On November 25, the prosecutor’s office had said that police officers were examining the computers and computer systems of Tuttur.com, owned by Saran Holding.

Saran Holding is owned by Sadettin Saran, head of sports club Fenerbahce (FENER). Tuttur was a legal company that provided betting services under an official sub-licence provided by the local monopolistic licence holder.

Before Saran was elected president of Fenerbahce, he was accused of having a conflict of interest as a betting company operator. In response, Tuttur announced that it had ceased its operations.

Later on, it was claimed on social media that Tuttur hid the names of some footballers and other personnel in its records to prevent their prosecution under an ongoing investigation into illegal betting that has so far targeted hundreds of players and referees.

AVHOL and USAK stock operators detained

On December 2, the prosecutor’s office detained a total of 25 suspects who were operating in Avrupa Yatirim Holding (AVHOL) stock.

On November 28, the prosecutor’s office detained a total of six suspects operating in Usak Seramik (USAK) stock.

Gen-Z gangs

On December 3, the prosecutor’s office said that it had filed an indictment targeting 40 people of minor age who are allegedly part of the Baris Boyun gang. Gang leader Boyun is currently in jail in Italy.

On the same day, the office said that it filed a separate indictment targeting 34 people of minor age who operate as part of the Daltons gang led by Beratcan Gokdemir, who is currently in jail in Russia.

In October, bne IntelliNews reported that gangs made up of Generation Z minors were the latest phenomenon in Turkey.

Additionally, the prosecutor’s office has detained alleged members of Islamic State and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C).

Filing for seizure of Arex Sigorta

On December 5, the Istanbul Anadolu chief prosecutor’s office (@AnadoluCBS) said that it had filed an application at a penal court for the seizure of insurance company Arex Sigorta.

The office is prosecuting the company for fraud in insurance policies on an application filed by the insurance watchdog SEDDK.

In April, SEDDK revoked the licences of Arex and AcnTurk Sigorta.

On December 8, the prosecutor’s office said that a penal court had ordered the official arrest of 10 suspects in the investigation.

In October, Fatih Donmez, a former deputy chief public prosecutor at the Caglayan Courthouse where the Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office is resident, was appointed to the Anadolu Courthouse on the Asian side of Istanbul as the chief public prosecutor.

Imamoglu diploma trial delayed to February

Amid many ongoing prosecutions that prosecutors promote heavily in social media and other media, a hearing was on December 8 held in the alleged forgery trial concerning the university diploma of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been held in a cell at Silivri Prison since March.

The court scheduled the next hearing date for February 16.

Imamoglu raised strong objections against the scheduling, saying that the court has no intention to try him, but is simply making a tactical move to earn time by holding a series of hearings.

“Your judging is worthless,” he said.