Regulator confiscates 10 more Çukurova group firms, including Digiturk

ANKARA

Çukurova Chairman Mehmet Emin Karamehmet was recently sentenced to seven years in prison for embezzlement.

Turkey’s Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) confiscated 10 more companies of the Turkish conglomerate Çukurova group, including its broadcaster of the national football league, Digiturk, on May 24. Other major media assets of the group, such as daily Akşam, daily Güneş, national broadcaster SkyTürk, and radio channel Alem FM, were also seized.
 
The TMSF had previously confiscated some of the assets of Çukurova group, such as its motor company BMC, which has been facing financial difficulties and delivery problems, and boradcaster Show TV, on May 17.

“However the sale of these assets would not cover the holding’s debt,” the president of the TMSF, Şakir Ercan Gül, said in earlier remarks on May 24. 

Following the first wave of confiscations, the TMSF said the move was aimed at depositing the groups’ debt in the state coffers and preventing an irreversible public loss. 

The group’s debt amounts to $455 million, according to the TMSF president.

Çukurova also holds shares in Turkcell, the country's biggest mobile operator, and the company is facing management disputes. However, the latest TMSF lists did not include Turkcell.