New development in the fund theft case: Criminal complaint against Denizbank officials

Businessman İsmail İbrahim Çağlar, who branch manager Seçil Erzan said took 2 million 800 thousand dollars by promising a high-yield fund and did not pay it back, filed a petition with the Istanbul 41st High Criminal Court through his lawyers and stated that they had suppressed the evidence during the investigation phase at the first hearing on November 20. It was reminded that they requested to file a criminal complaint against Denizbank officials for allegedly changing and concealing the information, but this request was rejected on the grounds that it could be made by the parties. On November 29, 2023, they submitted their petition to the court, stating that they filed a criminal complaint to the prosecutor’s office against the suspects who did not notify the judicial authorities of the location of the evidence during the investigation phase and hid the criminal.

CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST 10 BANK OFFICIALS

In the complaint made against 10 people, including bank managers, including Hakan Ateş and Sermin Tekin, and the bank security guard, it was claimed that they forced Seçil Erzan, the main suspect of the investigation, to testify in favor of the bank by not informing the judicial authorities of her location for 3 days and by limiting her freedom. .

It was claimed that they created false evidence, had the records in the suspect’s phone deleted and the phone broken, and therefore took a series of actions to prevent legal liability for the bank’s senior management. In the petition, it was noted that citizens who collected money from bank depositors with the claim that it was a secret fund and could not meet the promised interest came to the branch and complained. It was stated that Denizbank lawyers filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office on April 7 and requested Erzan’s arrest and a ban on going abroad, and that he was banned from going abroad on the same day.

HE WAS QUESTIONED FOR 12 HOURS ON APRIL 9

The petition also claimed that on April 8, bank officials learned that Erzan was at his mother’s house in Çorlu, and instead of sharing the location of a suspect who was banned from going abroad with the judicial authorities or law enforcement, they preferred to personally contact him and cut off his contact with the outside world. It was recorded that after Erzan’s location was determined, the bank management instructed regional manager Sermin Tekin to contact Erzan, Tekin went to Erzan’s address, and this meeting lasted 3 hours. It was also claimed that Tekin tried to persuade Erzan to come to the bank’s headquarters, while in the meantime, vehicles belonging to the bank and 4-5 people who looked like bodyguards were waiting in front of the house. It was stated that Tekin forcibly took a voice recording from Erzan, Erzan was brought to the head office from Çorlu with bank security guards on the morning of April 9, and according to the bank Inspection Board report, Erzan was interrogated for 12 hours between 09.45 and 21.30.

In the petition, it was stated that Hakan Ateş came to wish him a speedy recovery, but it was not credible that the branch manager, who dragged the bank into an embezzlement of $45 million, was interrogated by 6 bank officials for 12 hours and then the bank’s general manager said he wished he would get well soon. It was claimed that Sermin Tekin confiscated all the notes and records belonging to Erzan, that is, the evidence of the crime, and that, according to Erzan’s statement, the notes created by the bank were seized in his house during a police search.

THEY ASKED HIM TO BREAK HIS PHONE

In the petition, it was also claimed that while the suspects were interrogating Seçil Erzan, they gave her a new phone and line and asked her to break her old phone and delete the messages in it. It was noted that Erzan was put on a serum after he fainted during his second interrogation on April 10, and his irregular and illegal interrogation lasted approximately 8 hours. It was stated that the bank later requested a confidentiality order from the prosecutor’s office, and in order to direct the investigation to a point that would not harm the bank, they virtually surrounded the suspect, isolated him from the world, and ensured that a confidentiality order was issued in order to cover up the irregularities by hiding him from the public. It was requested that the 10 suspects be punished for the crimes of “destroying, concealing or changing criminal evidence”, “favoring the criminal” and “failure to report criminal evidence”.