Prosecutor involved in graft probes faces three years in prison

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

An Istanbul Public Prosecutor Office has prepared an indictment for Celal Kara, one of the prosecutors involved in the quashed graft investigations of December 2013, demanding that he be sentenced up to three years on misconduct charges.

The indictment followed a recent decision by the 2nd Chamber of the Supreme Judges and Prosecutors Board (HSYK) giving permission for the trial of prosecutors Kara and Muammer Akkaş, along with Judge Süleyman Karaçöl.

The indictment stated that “Kara demanded the seizure of the wealth of legal entities, without collecting all the evidence on behalf of or against the suspects for a fair judicial process and presenting no concrete evidence that the crime was committed or that the suspect’s possessions were gained as a result of the crime.”

The indictment has been sent to the 16th Heavy Penalty Court in Bakırköy. If the court accepts the indictment, Kara will be tried by the Supreme Court of Appeals because he is a first degree judge and a prosecutor.

Kara, along with Zekeriya Öz, Muammer Akkaş and Mehmet Yüzgeç, has been suspended by the HSYK on the grounds that their continued presence in the office would “harm the clout and reputation of the judiciary.”

Kara was previously assigned to the Afyonkarahisar Public Prosecutor’s Office before his suspension.

The Bakırköy Prosecutor’s Office earlier demanded that prosecutor Akkaş be sentenced to three years in prison for misconduct. In a separate indictment, it demanded that judge Karaçöl, who ordered detentions, seizures and arrest warrants for the names implicated in the graft investigation, be sentenced up to two years in prison.

Businessmen, officials and four cabinet members were embroiled in the wide-ranging corruption probes as suspects. The four ministers, Egemen Bağış, Erdoğan Bayraktar, Zafer Çağlayan, and Muammer Güler, resigned from their posts a few months after news of the probe broke. Months after the investigations were quashed, all four were acquitted in a parliamentary vote on the claims.