Draft on cash repatriation approved after CHP makes key revisions over money laundering concerns

According to the law, taxes and tax penalties, revenue services, traffic motorway passage fees, Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) administrative fines, customs duties, payroll tax, unemployment premiums, social security support premiums, general health insurance premium receivables and all kinds of penalties and overdue interests will be restructured. 

The law enables legal and natural persons who bring money, gold, foreign currency and capital market instruments into Turkey from abroad by the end of the year to economize freely.

In addition, a statement read that “all kinds of ships, yachts and other water vehicles” and the “opportunity to bring assets to other names and accounts” were omitted from the proposal.

Meanwhile, revisions were also made to various articles upon the CHP’s request over concerns parts of the law could be exploited by money launderers. 

CHP group deputy chairman Özgür Özel said three big changes were made upon the party’s demand.

“The proposal has changed 75 percent in line with our reservations. Three big changes were made in line with our demand in the general assembly. First, naval vehicles were omitted from the regulation. Secondly, the implementation that makes it impossible to follow third person names by hiding while bringing in black money has been abandoned. And third, an article was added regarding the investigation of people who bring in money. Our sensitivities were solved on these three subjects. However, our concerns have not gone away completely,” Özel told Reuters.

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu reportedly told Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım that black money had played a very critical role in terror financing and coups included black money, adding that the older version of the proposal would affect Turkey negatively in terms of black money.

According to the law proposal, tax investigation, tax assessment, investigation and persecution were still not foreseen due to assets brought into the country and saved in legal books.