Top judicial officials of corruption probe to be tried in Supreme Court

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

(L-R) Prosecutors Celal Kara, Zekeriya Öz, Mehmet Yüzgeç and Muammer Akkaş.

Two prosecutors and a judge who initiated Turkey’s biggest corruption investigation will be tried in the Supreme Court of Appeals as an Istanbul court decided on June 15 to send their indictments to the top court.

Prosecutors Celal Kara and Muammer Akkaş, both indicted on the charge of “abuse of power on duty,” and the judge Süleyman Karaçöl, who has been charged with “negligent behavior on duty,” will be tried in Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals as the Bakırköy 16th Court for Serious Crimes ruled to send the indictments against the three officials to the top court.

Kara, Akkaş and Karaçöl were previously dismissed from their jobs by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) on May 12, after they headed the country’s biggest corruption investigations launched on Dec.17 and Dec. 25, 2013 that sent shockwaves through the country, targeting four ministers and three of their sons.

The four ministers, Egemen Bağış, Erdoğan Bayraktar, Zafer Çağlayan and Muammer Güler, resigned from their posts after news of the probe broke. Months after the investigations were quashed, all four were acquitted by a parliamentary vote on the claims.