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Istanbul prosecutors have asked a court to jail Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, a former Family and Social Services minister, after questioning her as a suspect in the investigation into trading on Türkiye’s capital markets.
Kaya’s statement at the Istanbul courthouse lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. Prosecutors then referred her to the criminal judgeship of peace on duty, which will decide whether she is jailed pending trial. The prosecutors want her held on suspicion of violating the Capital Markets Law and of membership in an organization formed to commit crimes.
The investigation is run by the Terror Financing and Money Laundering Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Kaya, who also served as a deputy chair of the ruling AK Party, has been at the center of the inquiry since late September. She stepped down from the party post at the time, and the party accepted her resignation.
Investigators suspect that she and her husband, Ilyas Kaya, traded on privileged information in shares of Ozata Denizcilik. Reports have said the couple invested about 163 million liras (roughly $3.3 million) in the stock in April and later withdrew around 2.2 billion liras, a gain of more than 1,000 percent in about four months.
Authorities froze the couple’s assets. The couple then returned the portion of their holdings above their original investment through a voluntary payment mechanism overseen by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). The couple has denied receiving guidance or inside information. Ilyas Kaya has said he moved his gains to the TMSF-designated account after the investigation became public.
The wider investigation grew out of a sharp sell-off in mid-September. Several portfolio management companies that had offered high returns through concentrated stock holdings faced heavy selling. Some of the funds struggled to meet investors’ redemption requests.
The Capital Markets Board ordered the liquidation of 131 funds run by seven portfolio management companies. The funds involved 455,758 individual investors and, by one estimate, more than $19 billion in assets.
As of early October, prosecutors were examining trading in 26 stocks listed on Borsa Istanbul for suspected market manipulation. They also traced money transfers and accounts that showed unusually large gains.
The investigation covered 217 suspects as of the last tally reported in early October. Of those, 85 had been jailed pending trial and 98 placed under judicial control. Among those jailed were Emre Tezmen, chairman of Tera Yatirim Holding, and Serdar Turhan, chairman of Pusula Holding.
Authorities have frozen the assets of dozens of people and companies and seized luxury cars, private jets and a yacht. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek has said the seized assets would be used to compensate investors.
Prosecutors have also turned to the regulator itself. Ibrahim Omer Gonul, who chaired the Capital Markets Board from April 2022 to April 2026, was summoned as a suspect. Prosecutors sought permission to investigate him for alleged abuse of office over the board’s oversight duties.
The judge has not yet announced a decision on Kaya.
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