Erdogan banned arrest of his son in context of corruption's charges

The former president of the Supreme Judicial Council of Turkey, who has been in jail for two years, said that Turkish President Recap Tayyip Erdogan, when he was prime minister, was directly intervened in the judiciary to save his son Bilal from arrest in the framework of corruption scandals that hit Turkey in 2013.

14 September, 2018 04:40

NEWS DESK

Stockholm Freedom Center stated in a report on Thursday that Turkish Prime Minister Recap Tayyip Erdogan, when he was prime minister, asked former Supreme Court President Ibrahim Okur to suspend the execution of a court order to arrest Bilal for corruption , according to Sky News.

"Cumhuryiet" newspaper quoted Okur as saying Turkish Prime Minister Recap Tayyip Erdogan asked him to prevent plaintiffs from prosecuting his son, Bilal, during an investigation into corruption scandals in December 2013.

Okur said at a hearing in the 9th Circuit Court of Cassation "The Prime Minister (Erdogan) told me by telephone that Zakaria Oz, deputy prosecutor in Istanbul at the time, was doing illegal things.

He added "According to the information they received, Oz was attending a memorandum to conduct an operation targeting Erdogan's house in order to arrest Bilal Erdogan."

Okor, who has been held for more than two years on charges of belonging to the Fathullah Gulen movement, said Erdogan had asked for his help to stop the acts, which he described as "illegal."

Okor said Erdogan contacted him on December 18 from an coded telephone number for his assistant Hassan Dogan, while he was at the office of Birul Ardim, undersecretary of the Justice Ministry.

Later Okor contacted Turan Chulakadi, the former Istanbul prosecutor, and told him that Zakaria Oz must not take action, and if necessary he could order the police not to execute any order without his signature.

Turkish police arrested the sons of three ministers and 49 others, including Suleiman Aslan, director of the state-owned bank "Khalq" and Iranian businessman Reza Darrab during a campaign on December 17, 2013 against corruption, bribery, fraud, money laundering and smuggling of gold.

Following the arrest campaign, Erdogan ousted several prosecutors in the case and conducted a changes among police officers claiming that they were seeking the help of his political opponents, which led to the failure of the prosecutor to arrest his son Bilal.

A.H

ANHA