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26 arrested in stock market manipulation probe
Following a series of police raids at several locations in İstanbul early on Tuesday morning, suspects were taken into custody for allegedly manipulating multiple shares at the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB) and fraudulently earning some TL 100 million ($61 million).
According to information previously disclosed by the police to the media, suspects in the investigation made coordinated purchases and sales at the İMKB for more than a year, and one of the suspects, Mehmet Uğurlu, a former vice president of the İstanbul Gold Exchange (İAB), had been appointed as a specialist in similar investigations in the past. Uğurlu, together with his son Adnan Uğurlu, was among those arrested as part of the recent probe.
The 38 suspects included many well-known businessmen and former soccer players as well as employees of the İMKB and a number of financial institutions, who work as intermediaries for investors as they trade shares on the stock market. Aside from Uğurlu and his son, others taken into custody on Tuesday included a former soccer player, Mecnur Çolak; a trainer for the Turkish national soccer team, Engin İpekoğlu; and the coach of the Turkish under-17 national soccer team, Şenol Ustaömer. Çolak had previously played with this year's Turkish super league champion, Fenerbahçe, and his name was also mentioned in relation to earlier stock market manipulation allegations. Like the Uğurlus, Çolak was arrested by the court, whereas İpekoğlu and Ustaömer were released on Friday after being questioned by prosecutors.
İstanbul police said Tuesday's raids came as a result of a period of intense scrutiny, and suspects were identified after the police broke codes they used to communicate. As part of Tuesday's operation, police also seized a number of luxury cars owned by some of the suspects, and the bank accounts of 47 people suspected of having some sort of involvement in the alleged stock market manipulations, have been frozen. One of those 47 individuals is Tayfur Havutçu, coach of famous Turkish soccer team Beşiktaş.
The shares suspected of having been manipulated -- HATEK, MAKTK, TBORG, ISYHO and TUDDF -- on average fell more than 10 percent in value when the news hit media outlets on Tuesday. Their losses increased on Wednesday and Thursday, exceeding 50 percent for some after three days of trading. On Friday, some of them recovered part of their losses whereas the sharp decline continued as the trend for others.
The İMKB has long been the focus of individual and small investors' criticisms as certain shares have, from time to time, moved contrary to most expectations. A lawsuit in which 131 people were taken into custody in 2006 for manipulating stocks on the İMKB is still continuing at the İstanbul 4th High Criminal Court, but other similar allegations have so far not been sufficiently investigated.
Speaking earlier in an exclusive interview with Today's Zaman, a police department official who was involved in the raids said the suspects were “too sure of themselves” that they would not face judicial consequences for what they had allegedly done. Experts point to a lack of special tribunals in Turkey capable of handling capital market crimes and say no punitive actions can be taken against suspects who are believed to have engaged in such wrongdoings as long as such allegations are heard by conventional courts.
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