17.05.2026 20:40
CHP Malatya Deputy Veli Ağbaba made a written press statement regarding the WhatsApp messages leaked from the investigation file in which his former driver was arrested. Stating that the messages were distorted and turned into a perception operation targeting him and his party, Ağbaba harshly reacted to the allegations, saying, "In the messages, there is not money sent to me, but money I sent for my election campaign."
CHP Malatya Deputy Veli Ağbaba strongly reacted to the WhatsApp conversations leaked to the press as part of the investigation in which his former driver Gökhan Cumalı was arrested. Arguing that the conversations were distorted to carry out a perception operation, Ağbaba announced that he would take legal action.
Responding to the allegations published in Sabah newspaper, which included money transfers between him and his arrested driver Gökhan Cumalı, CHP member Veli Ağbaba issued a written press statement. Stating that the messages were illegally leaked from a file under a confidentiality order, Ağbaba provided clarifications one by one regarding the dialogues at the center of the allegations.
"IT WAS THE MONEY FOR MY TRIP ABROAD"
Addressing the claims in the published messages about the "missing money in the bag" and the meeting in the parking lot, Ağbaba summarized the background of the incident with the following words:
"Looking at the messages illegally leaked from a confidential file, it appears that I called him to the parking lot on January 16 to pick me up. Additionally, in the correspondence, it is seen that I asked him about the money I had put in my bag being short, as I was going abroad with my family on August 4. Our trip abroad is confirmed in all official records."
"THEY TURNED THE MONEY I PAID FOR MY ELECTION CAMPAIGN INTO A PERCEPTION"
Emphasizing that the allegations about money transfers in the messages were actually his own expenses, the Malatya Deputy made the following statements regarding the source of the money:
"The other issue is various payments I made for my election campaign in March 2024, when I was a candidate for Malatya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor. In other words, there was money I sent, not money I received. An attempt is being made to create a perception even from the amount I paid myself for my own campaign."
"WE WILL SETTLE THIS BEFORE THE JUDICIARY"
At the end of his statement, Veli Ağbaba expressed that this situation was an organized attack against both himself and the corporate identity of the Republican People's Party, and stated that he would follow up on the legal process:
"We know how these contents, entrusted to the state, are immorally leaked. I will use all my legal rights to note this in history and settle accounts before the judiciary in the future. I will fully pursue legally both those who leaked these slanders and those who spread them."