Police detain 21 in probe into civil service exam ‘fraud’

ANKARA

DHA Photo

Turkish police on June 15 detained 21 suspects as part of an investigation into the fraud allegations concerning a 2010 nationwide civil service recruitment exam.

The police launched the operation in Ankara and Istanbul after the Ankara prosecutor’s office ordered the detention of 23 suspects. While 21 suspects were detained, efforts continue to locate the other two individuals.

The suspects face charges of leaking the questions of Turkey’s Public Personnel Selection Exam (KPSS) in an “organized manner.”

A first wave of arrests in the investigation came in late March across 14 provinces, including Ankara, Istanbul and İzmir, and which resulted in the detention of 62 suspects, 30 of whom were later released.

The suspects were being charged with “being a member of an organization with felonious intent, forgery of official documents, fraud against state institutions, removing evidence and professional misconduct.” 

Police investigating the fraud have allegedly found evidence of involvement by members of the “parallel state,” a term widely used to refer to the followers of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has been accused of attempting to undermine the government.