12 suspects arrested in illegal betting investigation in Istanbul

The proceedings at the prosecutor's office for the 16 suspects, who were detained and referred to the courthouse on allegations of encouraging illegal betting by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, have been completed.

Following their statements to the prosecutor, 16 suspects, including presenter Mehmet Ali Erbil and singer Serdar Ortaç, were referred to the duty magistrate's court with a request for their arrest.

When asked by members of the press whether the allegations were true while being taken to the court, suspect Serdar Ortaç replied, "The allegations are not true, but I still set a bad example for society, so I am very sorry."

The Istanbul Duty Magistrate's Court decided to impose a judicial control measure in the form of "house arrest" for suspects Serdar Ortaç and Mehmet Ali Erbil.

The court, which ordered the arrest of 12 suspects including Sefa Caner Sarıcam, Esma Sözen, Muzaffer Zorbey Erkoçkar, and İbrahim Yılmaz, also decided to release 2 suspects, one of whom is under 18, under judicial control conditions.

"I DON'T KNOW HOW WE WILL EXPLAIN THIS"

In a statement to the press while leaving the courthouse after his proceedings at the magistrate's court, suspect Serdar Ortaç stated that gambling had taken his home, his marriage, and his health from him.

Ortaç continued his words as follows:

"And now it has brought me to the courthouse. I don't know how else to vilify gambling or how to explain this to the public. They invited me to Malta for a hotel opening. They said it was a restaurant opening. There, they tricked me and filmed the game on a mobile phone. We were set up there. You can't say anything in a foreign land; I couldn't say anything. The match was even on, and they were asking me, 'Mr. Serdar, what will the score be?' I don't understand that. I am regretful, I am sorry."

Mehmet Ali Erbil also said in a statement to the press while leaving the courthouse that he had stated many times before that illegal betting should not be trusted.

Claiming that they tried to draw them into illegal betting at the opening of a restaurant they went to with Serdar Ortaç in Malta, Erbil said, "I said on live broadcast, 'I have never played this virtual gambling in my life and I do not recommend it to anyone.' If I had gone to such a place for an advertisement, they would have killed me for saying such a thing. Because these men earn their bread from this. But I am still very sorry for being involved in such an incident. It is truly something that does not suit me at all. Even though I was not a part of virtual gambling, they still tried to show me as if I were within this platform."

WHAT HAPPENED?

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had issued detention warrants for 23 suspects, including social media influencers and some famous names, in the investigation conducted into allegations of encouraging illegal betting.

In the investigation, it was determined that among the suspects alleged to have appeared in illegal betting advertisements were singer Serdar Ortaç, presenter Mehmet Ali Erbil, former football player Batuhan Karadeniz, social media influencers İbrahim Yılmaz, Muzaffer Zorbey Erkoçkar, Sefa Caner Sarıçam, and Russian and Turkish citizen Aleksander Mensikof.

In the operation organized by the Istanbul Police Department teams, 16 of the suspects, including Mehmet Ali Erbil and Serdar Ortaç, were detained.

It was learned that 5 of the suspects were abroad and efforts to locate the other 2 were ongoing.