New wave of leaked evidence alleges Yıldırım’s TFF pressure

ISTANBUL

Fenerbahçe chairman Aziz Yıldırım, the highest-profile suspect in the match-fixing case has a large presence in the wiretapped dialogues in the match-fixing indictment.

A total of 70 files of evidence were leaked online yesterday a day after being handed over to the lawyers of the match-fixing suspects.

The files, containing more than 10,000 pages, mostly consist of telephone dialogues between some of the suspects involved in the case.

It also came two weeks after the 400-page indictment was released after being accepted by an Istanbul court.

So far a total of 93 football officials, players and coaches have been named as suspects in match-fixing cases, 23 of whom are currently in jail pending trial.

Some excerpts from the lengthy compilation of files show Fenerbahçe Chairman Aziz Yıldırım, the highest-profile suspect in the case, allegedly trying to influence other teams and Turkish Football Federation (TFF) officials.

“You are afraid to show up for a dinner. One day you will come, but from now on you will get no support from me,” read the excerpt from a wiretapped dialogue between Yıldırım and TFF Vice Chairman Levent Kızıl. The conversation is understood to have taken place after Yıldırım invited Kızıl and then-TFF Chairman Mahmut Özgener to a dinner following a TFF ban on the Fenerbahçe chief.

When answered “I would like to come, but Mahmut didn’t want to, what should I do?” Yıldırım replies: “Who on earth is Mahmut?”

In another phone call with then-Galatasaray Chairman Adnan Polat, Yıldırım says the TFF board “would go.”

The indictment also includes a talk between Özgener and then-Istanbul BB Chairman Göksel Gümüşdağ, following reports that Aziz Yıldırım entered the dressing room of referees during a Trabzonspor match to threaten a referee.

“He entered the room and said ‘Didn’t you see those penalties?’ And the referee said, ‘I call what I see,’” Gümüşdağ was quoted as saying. “Then Yıldırım said ‘I will f--k what you see.’”
Özgener then replies: “Oh, we are dead now.”

In another phone call, Fenerbahçe’s Vice Chairman Şekip Mosturoğlu, who is now jailed pending trial, called the team’s coach Aykut Kocaman to give information on the Bucaspor squad after inside information.

Fenerbahçe rallied to beat Bucaspor 5-3 on April 24 in what was one of the most crucial wins on the way to the team’s league title. The win was also one of the controversial games listed in the TFF Ethics Committee report.

Earlier this week, the report, which was prepared in July and August after getting confidential documents from the prosecutor to rule on the teams involved in match fixing, was leaked. The report states Fenerbahçe was involved in the match fixing of five matches and attempted a further three, but yesterday TFF Chairman Mehmet Ali Aydınlar said it was not a definite report.

“As you know the Ethics Committee report is a report of suggestion, it is not a conclusion,” Aydınlar said. “We will get some more evidence today and they will start working on it again.”

Aydınlar in September said the TFF would wait until the end of the season to decide whether teams involved in match fixing would be punished.

The first hearing of the landmark case, which has been the biggest football investigation in the country’s history, will be held Feb. 14, 2012.