Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Appeal Succeeds: Ertan Aydın Arrested

Ertan Aydın, a former AK Party deputy and former Prime Minister's senior advisor, who was released on October 24 under a probation decision in the fund investigation, was taken into custody again in Ankara following an arrest warrant issued after Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office appealed the decision, and was remanded in custody by the on-duty peace judge.

The Chief Prosecutor's Office had appealed the judicial supervision measures imposed by the judge, which consisted of house arrest and a ban on leaving the country; the court evaluating the appeal issued the arrest warrant.

The 55-year-old Aydın holds degrees from Middle East Technical University's Department of Sociology and Bilkent University's Department of Political Science; in 2012, he was appointed as the then-Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan's senior advisor responsible for political affairs, continuing in this position during Ahmet Davutoğlu's premiership. He was elected as a deputy from Ankara in 2015. Aydın also directed AK Party's 2023 presidential campaign, which the party called "Turkey's Century."

The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office's capital markets investigation had reached over 85 detained individuals as of the end of September. On September 17, the Capital Markets Board ordered the liquidation of 131 investment funds belonging to Tera, Pusula, Hedef, Atlas, A1, Pardus, and Bulls Portfolio companies; the fund liquidation process will be carried out by İş Bank and Ziraat Bank within six months.

On September 26, it was alleged that former Family Minister and AK Party Deputy Chairman Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya and her spouse made a 21-fold and eight-fold profit respectively from a fund, with the couple withdrawing a total of 2 billion 170 million lira at the beginning of the month. Kaya left the allegations unanswered and merely resigned from her positions. On September 29, Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office sent a memorandum to all relevant institutions for the freezing of Kaya and her spouse İlyas Kaya's assets. On October 6, Sayan Kaya and her spouse applied for the return of fund gains; the chief prosecutor's office wrote to banks for permission of the return.

On October 8, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek announced that the money of 43 thousand fund participants was transferred to banks; on October 9, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced that 187 billion lira in illegal fund gains had been detected. On October 13, the Communications Directorate announced that 34.1 billion lira covering the remaining 49 funds of A1, Bulls, and Pardus companies had been placed under liquidation process.