TMSF puts Soma Holding chairman’s estates up for sale

Dinçer Gökçe ISTANBUL

Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) has put real estate properties owned by Soma Holding chairman Alp Gürkan up for sale after he was charged wıth fraud for helping businessman Korkmaz Yiğit hide assets from the TMSF in the wake of the Soma mining disaster.

The total value of Gürkan’s properties is some 36 million Turkish Liras. The value of one of Gürkan’s residences exceeds 34 million liras, while another property, an apartment in Istanbul’s Spine Tower, is worth 1.6 million liras.

Meanwhile, eight properties belonging to businessman Kemal Gülman will also be sold by tender.
Gülman’s properties include a 28,000 square-meter piece of land worth 28 million liras in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, a 227,161 square-meter piece of land valued at 49.9 million liras and another property valued at 13 million liras.

There are a total of 17 defendants accused of helping Yiğit hide his assets from the TMSF in the Soma mine disaster case. Accordingly, the TMSF had imposed an injunction on the properties of a number of people and companies.

The defendants are standing trial and may face up to 21 years of imprisonment.

Soma Coal Mining Company was operating the Soma mine in the western province or Manisa, which made the headlines in May 2014 when a disaster claimed the lives of 301 workers.