Turkish court orders main opposition leader to pay 190,000 liras in ‘offshore case’ involving Erdoğan

ISTANBUL 

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu

An Istanbul court has sentenced the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader to pay compensation of 190,000 Turkish Liras (approximately $36,770) in a criminal complaint case filed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, bringing the total bill in "slander" cases to more than 1 million liras ($196,000).

The Anadolu 15th Civil Court of First Instance on Nov. 29 ordered Kılıçdaroğlu to make a payment over his claims that Erdoğan and his relatives had made illicit money transfers to the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland.

The CHP head made the claims in a speech on a TV channel in December 2017.

Kılıçdaroğlu said that Erdoğan’s close circle engaged in multi-million dollar traffic through an off-shore company in the tax haven Isle of Man.

Erdoğan however accused Kılıçdaroğlu of “lying,” saying the five people named “received money because they had sold their existing companies.” “Money was not sent there,” he said.

Kılıçdaroğlu was asked to pay for attacking the personal rights of Erdoğan and his relatives.

Previously, he was ordered in four different suites to pay damages to Erdoğan and his relatives for making similar claims, but in different occasions. So, including the last compensation, Kılıçdaroğlu has so far paid a total of 1,018,000 liras (approximately $196,000) in compensation to Erdoğan over these claims.