Ex-Turkish minister’s relative released pending trial in harbor graft probe

İZMİR

Lawyer Ahmet Lütfi Akkuş said that Haberdar was sent to court only for the charges of mediating a bribe. AA photo

The brother-in-law of former Transport and Urban Planning Minister Binali Yıldırım has been released pending trial, after being sent to court for arrest as a part of a corruption investigation into transactions at commercial harbors.

Yıldırım’s brother-in-law, Cemalettin Haberdar, who reportedly works for a company whose CEO was taken into custody during the raids, surrendered to police on Jan. 10 after an arrest warrant was issued for him.

Haberdar’s lawyer, Ahmet Lütfi Akkuş, said Haberdar was initially taken into custody on charges of “accepting a bribe, mediating a bribe, and conspiring to rig a bid” as part of a benefit-oriented criminal organization. He was sent to court only for the charges of mediating a bribe.

Akkuş said anyone who read Haberdar’s testimony would be able to see that even this claim was not true, adding that he had filed a criminal complaint against those who released footage of Haberdar to the press while the case’s confidentiality order was still in effect.

Meanwhile, 14 suspects, who were detained in the Jan. 7 probe on charges of bribery, corruption, conspiring to rig tenders and leaking information about tenders, have been arrested and transferred to prison.

Senior officials, including the director of the İzmir port and his two deputies as well as eight officials from the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), were initially detained in the operation launched by the İzmir public prosecutor.

Three senior İzmir police officers were dismissed after launching fraud investigations.