On December 25, 2013, prosecutor Muammer Akkas issued detention warrants for 41, including Bilal Erdoğan, then Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s son. The court also ordered the freezing of their assets.
However, the newly appointed police officers who came right after the previous graft probe detentions on December 17, disobeyed the command of the prosecutor and the court. For the first time in Turkey’s near history, the police defied the orders of the prosecutor and the court.
The date on which the rule of law was abolished In Turkey by the Erdoğan Regime is December 25, 2013.
Erdogan’s son and Yasin al-Qadi, the leaders of the alleged criminal organization
Prosecutor Akkaş’s probe on December 25 included five investigations into five separate criminal organizations. Tayyip Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan and Yasin al-Qadi, an individual on the UN’s list of terrorists, were the two heads of these organizations.
Al-Qadi was an outlaw because of his relationship with al-Qaeda. However, despite being prohibited from entering the country, he repeatedly came to Turkey in secret, where he met with Tayyip Erdoğan and the chair of the Turkish Intelligence Service (MIT), Hakan Fidan several times.
The prosecution’s probe originated from that point. Al-Qadi was landing in Turkey with an unregistered hidden plane, the cameras of the airport were being turned off, and he had his visits in a vehicle that belonged to the Prime Minister’s guards.
The prosecution ordered to start surveilling Osama Qutub, who was El Qadi’s right-hand man in Turkey. After months of surveillance, Bilal Erdoğan’s involvement surfaced.
First investigation: A valuable land in the Bosphorus
A company named Bosphorus 360 was founded, where Al Kadı and Bilal Erdoğan were secret shareholders. The company aimed to build a project consisting of a luxury residence, a shopping center, and a hotel on the property of Etiler Police Training School that is placed on one of the most popular districts of Istanbul.
The value of the police school’s land was declared as $ 2 billion. However, upon Tayyip Erdoğan’s involvement, 32,000 square meters of land was sold to this company for a quarter of its original value through a series of forgeries. Then, the area of the construction permit was quadrupled, and a building area of 100 thousand square meters was handed to the Bosphorus 360.
The second investigation: Forced donations to Erdogan’s foundation from businessmen
The second dossier of the December 25 corruption probe was the forced donation to the TÜRGEV Foundation, of which Bilal Erdoğan is the director, and donator businessmen were being rewarded with very good prices of public tenders.
Conversations between Bilal Erdogan and Ali Agaoglu, one of the biggest construction company owners in Turkey, were recorded within the scope of lawful interception. Bilal Erdoğan asked Ali Agaoglu to donate $ 100 million to land to his foundation. Businessman Agaoglu was forced to accept it, but in return, the construction of another project in the forest land was severely multiplied for his company.
Another finding was related to King Abdullah. Saudi King Abdullah donated $ 100 million to Bilal Erdogan’s foundation. Two months later, he received a construction permit for Sevda Hill, where construction in that part of Bosphorus was prohibited. King Abdullah had paid a bribe to Bilal Erdogan’s foundation for a billion-dollar construction permit.
It was found that many businessmen were forced to donate to the Erdoğan family foundation, and public funds were unfairly used in return.
Third investigation: controlling the media with bribery
The third file of the probe was on the fixation of the purchase of Turkey’s second-largest media group Turquoise (Turkuvaz) Media. Erdogan wanted to buy this 600 million dollar media group and turn it into a propaganda machine. To make this happen, Erdogan had gathered the businessmen who were awarded governmental construction tenders, and said he would form a “pool.” He wanted 100 million dollars from two businessmen, 150 million dollars from a businessman, 30 million dollars from a businessman, and 20 million dollars from a businessman.
Businessmen did what he said. The collection of half a billion dollars in the villa called “pool,” and the transfer of the money by armored vehicle to the owner of the Turquoise Media Group was recorded by the police teams appointed by the prosecutor.
Erdogan, with hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes, bought Turquoise media. In return, Istanbul 3 Airport, some bridge, and highway tenders were given to mentioned businessmen.
Fourth investigation: Private villas for the Erdogan family
For the Erdogan family, one of the most beautiful bays of the Aegean Sea, where historical ruins are located, was arranged. The villas were being built for Erdogan and his four children. Two separate court orders stopped construction. During the excavation in the region, historical ruins dating back 1000 years ago were discovered. But with bribes, the bay was removed from the historic area. The Erdogan family again bribed and got all the land in the region from the state without tender, and built a holiday village with a private beach for the family. Bulldozers destroyed historical ruins.
Fifth investigation: new police school territory
The status of the new police school in Istanbul Çatalca was changed so that Erdoğan could grant it to the contractor he wanted without a tender. Four hundred thousand square meters of land was taken out of the tender law. Although Minister of Environment and Urbanization Erdoğan Bayraktar opposed this situation, he had to say yes. The prosecution documented all criminal proceedings.
Obstruction of Justice
The December 25 graft probe was blocked despite all the evidence of the Prosecutor’s Office, video-voice records, and bribery documents. The prosecutor Muammer Akkaş was dismissed and fired. The police officers were also dismissed. Erdogan claimed that the prosecutor and police involved in the corruption operation were Gulenists. The newly appointed prosecutor closed the file, stating that there was no corruption. Then, all evidence has been destroyed.