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Akman referred to court in charity fraud probe
Akman was detained on Wednesday morning along with four senior executives from the Kanal 7 television station.
The Deniz Feneri administration is accused of funneling money collected for charity from pious workers in Germany into various companies and businesses in Turkey. In September 2008 a German court convicted three Turks of funneling $26 million in charitable contributions raised by Deniz Feneri to companies run by conservative individuals in Turkey.
Akman spent Wednesday night at the Ankara Police Department, where he was questioned by officers. Reporters covering the story noted that Akman appeared to be “extremely troubled” while waiting for his interrogation to begin at an Ankara courthouse.
Prosecutors Nadi Türkaslan, Abdulvahap Yaren and Mehmet Tamöz are conducting the investigation.
The Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals received copies of the proceedings of the Deniz Feneri trial in Germany to investigate possible links between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the charity in November of 2008. In June 2009 the Ankara 5th Criminal Court of Peace ordered a preliminary injunction on the property and assets of 18 people who were implicated in the case, including Akman. The investigation is currently being carried out by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
Scrutiny of Deniz Feneri began in 2008 when German prosecutors began to investigate the charity's suspicious activities. In September of that year, three men from Deniz Feneri were found guilty of fraud. The Frankfurt Supreme Court handed down a prison sentence of five years, 10 months to Mehmet Gürhan and two years, nine months to Mehmet Taşkan. Firdevsi Ermiş was released with a suspended sentence of one year, 10 months.
The German prosecutor had also said those who were in charge of the fraudulent operation were in fact in Turkey. She added that during the 2008 trial Akman and Kanal 7 CEO Zekeriya Karaman, who is also a founding member of Deniz Feneri, were the masterminds behind the crimes.
Along with Akman, three Kanal 7 executives -- Deputy General Manager İsmail Karahan, Editor-in-Chief Mustafa Çelik and CFO Erdoğan Kara -- were detained in İstanbul and then flown to Ankara on Wednesday. Kanal 7 CEO Karaman was detained in Bayburt.
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