A TMSF team searched Toprak's residence in a resort town on Saturday and questioned his new wife, while two of his companies were seized by the fund on the same day to recoup some of the millions of dollars the businessman owes to creditors.
Last week Toprak married for the third time, this time to a 17-year-old girl who was required to present authorities with written permission from her parents as she is not allowed to wed without permission until the age of 18. The septuagenarian's family appealed to a court to annul the marriage later last week. On Saturday morning a team from the TMSF arrived in the western resort town of Kuşadası, where Toprak and his teenage wife were spending their honeymoon. Toprak was informed of the seizure of two of his companies. TMSF officials also informed Toprak that the fund was investigating whether he had given his new bride, Nazlıcan Tağızade, a high school student, a significant amount of jewelry as a wedding gift. The investigators questioned Tağızade on the source of the accessories she was wearing. Toprak denied giving any jewelry to the bride.
The investigators searched the residence, while Tağızade, her mother and sister were asked to wait outside until the end of the search. The team did not find anything of monetary value inside safes within Toprak's mansion. Toprak owes a total of $132 million to various creditors, after deductions from his earlier overall debt before the sale of Toprakbank. Also on Saturday, the TMSF took over Toprak Sanitary Inc. and Toprak Construction Inc., which comprise 23 smaller companies, to recoup the rest of the debt.
