Police chiefs accused of taking bribes from Bora Kaplan: 'They had a scenario written for MASAK'

Former Ankara Deputy Police Chiefs Alp Aslan and Oben Özay, who are accused of taking bribes from Bora Kaplan—the organized crime leader sentenced to 68 years in prison—have claimed they are being tried due to a report written within the scope of a scenario provided to MASAK (Financial Crimes Investigation Board), and accused the police officers who conducted the operation against Bora Kaplan.

The trial continued for 5 people, including 4 police officers, on charges of "bribery and opposition to the Law on Declaration of Assets," involving former Deputy Chiefs of the Ankara Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM) and Public Order branches, Alp Aslan and Oben Özay, who were dismissed from the police force, as well as Bora Kaplan.

During today's session at the Ankara 33rd High Criminal Court, the former police officers who are being tried without arrest and their lawyers were present in the courtroom, while Bora Kaplan, who is in a prison in İzmir, refused to connect via SEGBİS and did not attend the hearing.

At the beginning of the hearing, Oben Özay's father C.Ö., his wife A.Ö., and his businessman friend F.A., who were heard as witnesses, explained their financial relationships with Özay and denied the allegations regarding these relationships. F.A. stated that he provided scholarships to the children of Oben Özay, whom he has known for a very long time, saying, "Oben Özay is my friend, my brother. We have family ties. They are not the first or last children I have given scholarships to. I have given scholarships to hundreds of children, and I still do. The public knows about the work I did during the earthquake. This year, I became Turkey's second-largest exporter."

H.T., the father-in-law of defendant Serdar Coşkun, stated in his testimony as a witness that he had transferred a portion of the assets he had acquired long ago to his son-in-law.

''BORA KAPLAN DID NOT BUY ME A WATCH''

During the hearing, Attorney N.K., who was alleged in Bora Kaplan's statement to be the lover of former Deputy Police Chief Alp Aslan and to have had Kaplan buy a Rolex watch for her birthday, was also heard as a witness. Attorney N.K. explained that she did not know Bora Kaplan, had never met him, and did not receive such a watch, and that at the time her phone was said to have signaled from the same base station as Kaplan's, she was at the Ankara Counter-Terrorism Branch (TEM) for her client's statement, saying, "I think the allegations are fabricated. I was Alp Aslan's lawyer before, but he later dismissed me."

Following the witness testimonies, when asked for their comments on these statements, defendant and former Police Chief Alp Aslan presented a table of his income and expenses down to the last penny, arguing that he did not have a single penny he could not explain and that he did not understand why he was being tried, while accusing MASAK as follows:

"I have conducted many operations with MASAK. I won't name them. If you tell MASAK, 'Look at these people's money movements,' or if you give them a scenario, the scenario works. They worked on the scenario given for me and drew conclusions. It seems people can be tried based on a statement and a MASAK report."

''I TRAVELED ABROAD 34 TIMES WITH THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE TIME, ERDOĞAN''

Defendant Ercan Karagöz also accused MASAK, saying, "They didn't see that I bought my vehicle through a trade-in," while Oben Özay said the following:

"MASAK's job is not to make evaluations. I reject the report from beginning to end. I will continue to seek my rights before the law against those who prepared it."

Stating that there was no problem in the eyes of the law or God regarding businessman F.A. giving scholarships to his children, Oben Özay noted that he served in the Prime Ministry protection detail between 2007 and 2014 and traveled abroad 34 times with the Prime Minister of the time, Erdoğan, and that his income from these trips alone was around 17 thousand dollars.

Defendant Serdar Coşkun, who stated that he previously worked in the Financial Crimes Investigation Branch and that MASAK would come to this branch when they were going to conduct an investigation, made the following claims:

"In the report prepared by MASAK about us, they went back years before the alleged date of the crime. The basis of the report and all investigations is built on making it appear as if we have a relationship with Bora Kaplan. Bora Kaplan said he didn't know us. There is nothing about me in Kaplan's 153-page statement either. But I have been ruined commercially. Mortgages were placed on all my accounts, my house, and my car. I can't even pass by a bank door. The biggest reason for setting a trap for a person is the preliminary interview record. We fought hard to prevent this from being done during our time. The preliminary interview record is presented to the Prosecutor as if there were a statement, and the Prosecutor is also lured into a trap. The friends who did this are currently being tried for what they did."

KAPLAN WANTED TO COME TO THE HEARING, THE COURT REFUSED

After these statements by the defendants, Alp Aslan's lawyer Talha Yasin Çağatay reminded the court that Bora Kaplan had stated his testimony was taken under torture and requested that his lawyer Umut Köroğlu, who was present during that statement, be heard as a witness.

Bora Kaplan's lawyer Tarık Teoman stated that his client wanted to be present at the hearing because he could not express himself fully via SEGBİS, and reiterated the request for the digital evidence in the 13th Criminal Court of First Instance, which reveals the irregularities of the police officers who conducted the Bora Kaplan operation, to be brought into this file, saying, "If those digitals enter the file, there won't even be a need for this case. If the digitals have nothing to do with this case, why is Bora Kaplan being tried here?"

After the break, the Presiding Judge announced that while the judicial control measure of a travel ban for Alp Aslan would continue, the requests to hear Attorney Umut Köroğlu as a witness, to bring the digital evidence from the 13th Criminal Court of First Instance, and to have Bora Kaplan present at the hearing were rejected.

The hearing was adjourned to July 1.

Müyesser YILDIZ

March 7, 2025