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Türkiye has arrested three former financial regulators and a Tera Holding executive as part of an ongoing investigation into September's fund scandal.
The three regulators remanded in custody are former SPK Deputy Chairperson Enver Usca, former SPK Market Surveillance and Inspection Department head Ercan Urkan and BDDK department head Mustafa Alper Tas, all on bribery charges.
Two other former SPK officials were also detained, with former board member Bulent Murat Haholu released after questioning and former Corporate Finance Department head Kursat Sait Babuccu placed under judicial control, including a travel ban and regular reporting requirements.
Separately, Tera Holding administrative affairs director Umit Sincanli was remanded in custody on charges of membership in a criminal organization and laundering assets derived from crime.
After several investment funds declared defaults in mid-September, the SPK put 131 troubled investment funds under liquidation to contain fallout over a six-month period.
At the time, the decision affected over 455,000 investors caught up in the funds and a combined asset base estimated at around ₺936.3 billion ($19.1 billion).
The latest arrests follow the arrest of former Borsa Istanbul General Manager Korkmaz Enes Ergun earlier this week on bribery charges. He had been detained on Oct. 31 over suspected involvement in a criminal organization and bribery.
Former Family and Social Services Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya was also arrested over alleged membership in a criminal organization and violations of the Capital Markets Law.
Former SPK Chairman Ibrahim Omer Gonul was released under judicial control, including a travel ban.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek described the investigation as an organized market fraud scheme extending into the country's senior financial bureaucracy.
Gurlek said investigators had identified 433 suspects, with 112 people arrested, 186 placed under judicial control and 38 remaining at large with arrest warrants issued against them.
Authorities have also frozen bank accounts and imposed asset restrictions on 359 individuals and 111 legal entities, covering assets suspected of being linked to the alleged criminal network.
Gurlek said authorities had recovered around ₺30 billion ($598.3 million) worth of cash, real estate and shares through a voluntary restitution account established under the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF).
He added that authorities were continuing to trace money movements, identify financial links and secure assets, while judicial authorities were overseeing the restitution process. Funds transferred abroad are also expected to be brought back into Türkiye's economy, according to the minister.
"The structure we are facing is not limited to simple stock market manipulation or a stock market scam; it is a comprehensive criminal organization," Gurlek said, adding that investigators had identified a network that had penetrated senior financial oversight mechanisms.
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