CEO Of İpek Holding Says Raid 'Baseless And Farcical'

Koza İpek Holding CEO Akın İpek, whose media group and business offices were raided on Tuesday morning as part of a crackdown organized by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), has said that the operation against his companies is “completely baseless and farcical.”

Auditors accompanied by a police escort conducted a raid on the offices of Koza İpek Holding in Ankara on Tuesday morning, while simultaneous raids on subsidiaries of the group carried out elsewhere. The dailies Bugün and Millet, TV stations Bugün TV and Kanaltürk and the website BGNNews.com are all subsidiaries of the Koza İpek Media Group.

The operations were conducted by the Finance Ministry's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK). Speaking live on a TV show aired on the Kanaltürk station on Tuesday, İpek criticized the operation, describing it as “farcical.” He added: “If they [MASAK inspectors and police] are able to find even a cent of illicit money, I am prepared to give my company to them.”

İpek also said that the authorities had only given trivial reasons for such a large-scale operation against a multibillion-dollar company. "One of those trivial reasons is the allegation that a company named Ereğli Iron and Steel sent TL 122 million to our family foundation. I have never heard of a company named Ereğli Iron and Steel and I have never met its owners or any of their relatives in all my life. No one has sent even one cent of illegal money to my foundation until now from either the Ereğli Iron and Steel Company or any other place. Our group is just trying to keep our foundation alive. In order to investigate this claim, it would be enough to send one auditor to the bank [with which the holding is working]. I don't need all the money [that was claimed to have been sent to the foundation]. I never ask for money for my foundation. How is it possible to raid such a big company just because of nefarious slander that has nothing to do with me?” İpek said.

İpek said the other reason behind the operation was an allegation that the holding had illicitly acquired TL 7-billion, adding that the police had come to ask whether MASAK had been informed about this money. He further added that there was no need to raid the company in order to learn this and that this information could easily be learnt from the holding's bank, which is obliged to inform MASAK about all its financial transactions.

Shortly after the operation on Tuesday morning, İpek released a written statement in which he said that the police had raided both his and his children's house, adding that he and his companies had never been involved in any illegal or inappropriate acts. “In two years, I have been asked every possible question by prosecutors. Certain media outlets are simply writing slander,” he said. “I've never even been given a traffic ticket.” (Cihan/Today's Zaman)