Former Turkish minister’s relative surrenders to police in fresh graft probe into harbors

İZMİR

Former Transport and Urban Planning Minister Binali Yıldırım reportedly said he did not know anything about the surrender of his brother-in-law. AA Photo

The brother-in-law of Turkey’s former Transport and Urban Planning Minister Binali Yıldırım, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued in a corruption operation into transactions at commercial harbors this week, surrendered to the police today.

Yıldırım reportedly said he did not know anything about the surrender of his brother-in-law. Yıldırım previously commented on the incident, saying anyone, even his father, would account for what they did.

Yıldırım’s brother-in-law, Cemalettin Haberdar, reportedly works for the company of which a CEO was taken into custody during the raids. He will be transferred to the court after police questioning, the reports said.

Yıldırım was replaced, along with four other ministers, in the massive recent Cabinet reshuffle after he announced he would run as the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) İzmir mayoral candidate in the upcoming local elections.

Meanwhile, fourteen of the 23 suspects, who were detained on charges of bribery, corruption, conspiring to rig tenders and leaking information about tenders on Jan. 7, were sent to the courthouse for arrest after they were questioned by prosecutors.

Senior officials such as the director of the İzmir port and his two deputies and eight officials from the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) have been detained in the operation launched by the İzmir Public Prosecutor.

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