Detention toll in fund investigation rises to 119: BDDK Division 3 Head Soysal arrested

BDDK Division 3 Head Bilal Soysal has been arrested in the capital markets fund investigation. One day earlier, within the same investigation, BDDK Implementation Division 4 Head Mustafa Alper Taş was arrested, and BDDK Deputy Chairman Muhammet Erişen — to whom both divisions report — was taken into custody. As of November 8, the number of detainees in the case has reached 119.

Beyond these, former Takas Bank General Manager Yunus Arıncı and Bulls Investment Board Chairman Kemal Akkaya, both previously released under judicial supervision, were taken into custody again. Akkaya had been released after giving a statement to prosecutors on September 23, 2024; Arıncı had remained free under a ban on foreign travel and an obligation to report to authorities.

At the heart of the investigation lies the finding that funds linked to certain companies grew by more than 3,000 percent over eight months. On September 17, the Capital Markets Board decided to liquidate 131 funds affecting more than 455,000 investors; the liquidation timeline was subsequently extended from three months to six months.

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced on October 6 that 214 real and legal persons who made suspicious withdrawals between September 13 and 16 — immediately before the fund crisis — had been identified, and their illicit gains totaled 187.6 billion TL. The list of 141 individuals and 73 legal entities was reported to TMSF; for victims, preliminary payments of up to 1 million TL per fund began to be transferred in the first phase.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has sought precautionary measures against the assets of former Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya and her spouse İlyas Kaya. Kaya requested to be relieved of his role as AK Party Deputy Chairman after the fund investigation came to light. The couple benefited from an effective remorse mechanism by returning 1.86 billion TL in profits to a TMSF account; their assets were frozen on September 29. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has also applied to the Treasury and Finance Ministry to obtain authorization to investigate former Capital Markets Board Chairman İbrahim Ömer Gönül.