Opposition links Turkish minister’s father to $17 million fund transactions

AKP’s Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş faced calls Thursday to explain alleged fund transactions worth 830 million lira ($17 million) carried out in her father’s name, as an opposition lawmaker challenged government figures’ connections to the country’s investment fund scandal.

Ümit Özlale, a lawmaker from the main opposition New Party, asked at a press conference whether her father, Hasan Özdemir, had traded in two funds caught up in the crisis.

Özlale cited transaction reference numbers and maintained that he had documents supporting his allegations.

His questions followed a parliamentary speech Wednesday in which he asked whether an unnamed minister had invested through a father’s account, turning 470 million lira ($9.5 million) into 830 million lira before withdrawing the money ahead of the crisis.

Göktaş denied the allegations Thursday, declaring that neither she nor any family member had an account or conducted transactions in the funds concerned.

She maintained that the investor was a different person with the same name as her father, citing different identification numbers, and pledged to resign if the allegations were proven, Gazete Pencere reported.

Özlale argued that investments by ministers were not themselves crimes but demanded disclosure of any transactions benefiting from privileged treatment or information obtained through public office.

The crisis began in September when funds could not meet withdrawal requests as share prices fell, prompting investigations into market manipulation.

The Capital Markets Board (SPK), Turkey’s securities regulator, ordered 131 funds managed by seven companies to be closed and their assets sold to repay 455,758 investors.