Turkish prosecutors drop graft charges against ex-ministers' sons
October 17, 2014
Istanbul prosecutors found on Friday that there was no evidence to support the corruption case, which shook then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government last year.
The 53 suspects had been accused of helping Iran exploit a loophole in Western sanctions, allowing the Islamic Republic to purchase gold with oil. Among those implicated in the case were Baris Guler and Kaan Caglayan. They are the sons of former Interior Minister Muammer Guler and former Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan.
A police report leaked earlier in the year placed Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab at the center of a network of bribes aimed at covering up gold sales to Iran. But in May, a Turkish court lifted a travel ban imposed against Zarrab, suggesting that the case had begun to collapse.
The report accused the then interior, economy and European affairs ministers of accepting bribes. They were forced to resign their posts last year when the scandal broke. The chief executive of the state-owned Halkbank was also implicated in graft and facilitating illicit gold sales, but has denied any wrongdoing.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Turkey's prime minister, dismissed the corruption scandal as a "judicial coup" orchestrated by US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally turned arch-rival. Erdogan responded by reassigning hundreds of police officers and members of the judiciary. Dozens of police officers have also been arrested for investigating the corruption allegations.
Despite the corruption scandal, Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AKP party went on to win local elections last March. Erdogan won Turkey's first direct presidential election in August.
slk/es (AFP, Reuters)