CHP gets penalty for expenses

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The Constitutional Court has discovered irregular spending amounting to 3.37 million Turkish Liras in the 2007 accounts of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), and has ruled that the Treasury should confiscate an equal amount from the party as a penalty.

A portion of the penalty – 819,000 liras – pertains to a media publicity contract that the party had signed with the Kanaltürk television station when it was owned by journalist Tuncay Özkan, now in jail on charges of involvement in anti-government plots. The court said this qualifies as irregular spending because the party made the payment in advance but received no services for seven months after the channel changed hands.

CHP deputy chair Erdoğan Toprak sais the ruling in no way indicated corruption or misuse of party funds. The situation arose from the shortcomings of the Political Parties Law, under which a lot of expenditure did not qualify as party spending, he said.