Fugitive Suspect's Brother Emerges as Major Winner of Turkish Government Contracts

Osman Arikan Nagar, one of the most prominent defendants in the Turkish investment fund scandal, withdrew approximately 20 billion lira before the crisis was exposed and then disappeared. Yet the complex web of his family's connections to circles of power and money has remained the least discussed aspect of the case.

His older brother Halil Nagar entered political life through the Justice and Development Party and ran as a candidate for the mayoralty of Yüreğir in the March 2024 elections, after resigning from his position as health director in Adana province. When he failed to win, he returned to his post.

As for the youngest brother, Jaber Nagar, he founded Canven Construction in 2015 with capital of 100,000 lira. Within nine and a half years, that capital grew 2,070-fold. The company won tenders from government forest directorates, including: construction of the administrative headquarters and staff housing for the Dörtyol Forest Directorate in Hatay under a contract worth 156,953,000 lira in 2024; a similar contract for the İskenderun Forest Directorate worth 98,500,000 lira in 2023; and a third contract for the Pazarcık-Narlı Forest Directorate in Kahramanmaraş worth 75,000,000 lira in the same year. The combined value of these contracts totals 330,453,000 lira.