Bora Kaplan and secret witness Serdar Sertçelik face off in 'money laundering case': Sertçelik reveals who was targeted for a 'frame-up'

Müyesser YILDIZ-12punto

Kaplan, who connected to the hearing via SEGBİS, said of Sertçelik, “I have been imprisoned for 2.5 years because of him, but I do not blame him. Anyone facing these threats and promises would do the same,” while Kaplan’s sister, Safiye Çalış, said that she would hold Sertçelik accountable in both worlds. Sertçelik, meanwhile, alleged in the new investigation launched regarding the “found” phone that a “frame-up” was intended to be set up against many politicians, members of the judiciary, and businessmen, primarily Devlet Bahçeli. In the meantime, it was revealed that two detained defendants, Bora Kaplan and Fethi Koyuncu, were released from this case because their legal detention period had expired, and that Serdar Sertçelik had been transferred from Sincan Prison to Tekirdağ Prison.

The hearing for the “money laundering from criminal activity in a chain manner within the scope of organizational activities” case, opened against the Bora Kaplan criminal organization and involving 38 defendants, 5 of whom are fugitives, continued at the Ankara 77th Criminal Court of First Instance.

The case, which was previously heard in the courtroom at the Sincan Prison Campus, was held for the first time today in the courtroom of the Ankara 27th High Criminal Court at the Ankara Courthouse. At the beginning of the hearing, the gendarmerie brought two detained defendants from a case at the 27th High Criminal Court into the room. When it was understood that there was a mistake, those defendants were taken away and Serdar Sertçelik was brought in.

Bora Kaplan, who had refused to attend hearings via SEGBİS because he was not personally present until today, also connected via SEGBİS from İzmir Buca Prison for the first time.

The judge of the 77th Criminal Court of First Instance stated that the expert report regarding the MASAK report had not been served to the parties because some documents had not arrived and the tax report requested from the BRSA regarding the companies had not been prepared, and therefore only Serdar Sertçelik would be heard at today's hearing and the statements of other defendants and lawyers would be taken. He then asked Sertçelik, “You can use your right to remain silent. Will you make a defense?” Sertçelik stated that he knew the accusations against him and would make a defense, and began his words as follows:

“To understand the indictment, one must go back to the beginning of the investigation. If I do not explain how I was made a secret witness, this trial will remain a mystery. I am both the secret witness M7 of this case and a defendant. I had to incriminate myself. The only statement against me is my own statement.”

“They Made a Recording as if I Had Called from the TRNC”

Continuing by repeating the statement he gave to the Prosecutor's Office after returning to Turkey, Sertçelik described how he was forced into secret witness status by the police who carried out the Bora Kaplan operation and voiced the following allegations:

“The then-Deputy Ankara Police Chief Murat Çelik threatened me by saying that if I did not agree to be a secret witness, he would pin all past unsolved murders on us, saying, ‘We are both the prosecutor and the judge. No one can save you from us.’ When I was threatened with my family and my brother, I accepted against my will. They left me no other choice. Ufuk Gültekin brought a pre-prepared speech and said, ‘Read this, then I will have you talk to Chief Şevket and we will make a phone recording.’ I asked why. He said, ‘We will make it look like you called before you came from the TRNC and said you would be a confessor.’ Şevket Demircan also said, ‘Son, we will let the prosecutor listen to this and get you out of the way.’ When they didn't like that speech, they made me repeat it many times; Chief Şevket said, ‘It wasn't realistic.’ When they finally said ‘Okay,’ we stopped the recording. When I stated that I did not know the names and events they wanted me to mention in my statement, they got angry and said, ‘You will do what we say, you cannot be saved otherwise.’ Chief Şevket and the police with him talked among themselves, saying, ‘Let’s form the criminal organization from July 15. We will support it with HTS records somehow.’ When I was taken to Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya, that statement at the Police Department was ready in front of both him and his clerk. In other words, I did not give a single word of statement to the prosecutor. As a matter of fact, when I came from abroad, I asked Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya, ‘Did you take my statement as a secret witness?’ The prosecutor replied, ‘I pulled the camera records. You stayed here for 2 hours.’ So much time has passed, but for some reason, they still haven't found the 2 police officers who had the doctor's report written for me. When Gökhan Karaca and Ufuk Gültekin came to my house to record my statement, whoever the policeman named Resul talked to that day is the one who got the report. They also shared the recording they took with Erk Acarer. Since there is no investigation opened against them on this matter, I am reporting it here. When my injury in a clash at the place where I went out to eat while under house arrest made a lot of noise in the media, Murat Çelik called and said, ‘The Chief Prosecutor told Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya to arrest you.’ When I asked, ‘Is this what you promised me?’, he said, ‘Don't worry, I will pull the police at the door. You hide somewhere, and in the meantime, I will have the detention order lifted.’ Indeed, the police were withdrawn. I got in the car and fled. I also took off the shackle on my leg and threw it out the window in Eryaman.”

Repeating that Şevket Demircan, who called constantly while he was in Greece, threatened him with his family while demanding that he definitely come on the day of the court, saying, “We did everything for you to escape. Look, don't put us in trouble,” Sertçelik continued his allegations as follows:

“He mentioned the base associations of AK Party MP Zeynep Gül Yılmaz, İsmail Yılmaz from AA, Bekir Bozdağ, Mücahit Arslan’s nephew Bilal Arslan, and Osman Arslan, and said, ‘Find us something about them, we will ask.’ The same day, 2-3 hours later, I called back and asked what I had found. I said, ‘I don't know Bekir Bozdağ or Osman Arslan.’ He said, ‘Find something like file tracking was done in Bekir Bozdağ’s office through Bilal Arslan.’ Every day they wanted more. For the second statement they would take as a secret witness, they gave the names Süleyman Soylu, Sadık Soylu, Bekir Bozdağ, Abdulhamit Gül, and Hasan Doğan. These police officers were meeting with Erk Acarer. Erk Acarer also put me on the broadcast thinking I was with them, but I told them whatever I experienced.”

Names on the “Found” Phone

While stating that he decided to return to Turkey due to the latest investigation launched regarding the “found” phone, Serdar Sertçelik said the following:

“After learning about the phone frame-up, I had to come and fight. When Mustafa Kaya called my elderly parents and my teacher brother to testify almost twice a week, I understood from the questions asked to them that they were preparing a new frame-up. Although I gave a statement to Mustafa Kaya for 9 hours after coming to Turkey, he did not put some of it into the record. What a coincidence that this phone was found in front of the office of Şevket Demircan’s lawyer. There is no security password. There is a fingerprint on it belonging to someone close to Murat Çelik and Şevket Demircan. They wrote Erdoğan on the package, as if my father had left it. They wrote such messages that they cleared not only themselves but also Serkan Dinçer, who is being tried for leaking information to Cevheri Güven. They pinned everything on me, Bora Kaplan, and Lawyer Cengiz Haliç. On that phone, they created messages about many politicians, members of the judiciary, and businessmen such as my state elder Mr. Devlet Bahçeli, Ulvi İzzet Yönter, Osman Arslan, Sadık Soylu, Yüksel Kocaman, former deputy chief prosecutor Ahmet Yıkılmaz, Mücahit Yılmaz’s nephew Bilal Arslan, and İsmail Arslan, and they are accusing them too. These are men who have dedicated themselves to the state. Can such a coincidence exist? According to the allegations, that phone was also stolen from the judicial repository. They prepared the frame-up so well... How did they create these messages? When I returned from the TRNC, I had given my phone and its password. They created a perception as if it were real by putting my messages from that period and the messages on my brother’s phone after they arrested him. When my brother was released, they delivered his phone. In the meantime, they also gave my phone. I am supposedly the second man of the organization, why did you give my phone without examining it? Because they had planned the phone frame-up back then. Look, I hadn't even come from the TRNC yet, I hadn't become a secret witness; Ufuk Gültekin has correspondence with a policeman about them examining Yüksel Kocaman’s money movements. He also sent the name of Mücahit Arslan’s nephew Bilal Arslan’s company, the address, and pictures of the cars in front of his office. Then they gave me these names and wanted me to say them. They followed certain political figures, businessmen, and members of the judiciary. They also used the media a lot. The only traitors they followed were Cevheri Güven and Erk Acarer.”

In the last part of his 1.5-hour defense, Serdar Sertçelik, who talked about his relationships with the names being tried in this case and the accusations directed at him, and answered the Judge’s questions such as “How did you open the shops? What do you do for a living? How do you make money?” as well as questions from some defendants and lawyers, stated that he would explain other details about his commercial relations after the investigation into these accusations is completed.

Bora Kaplan Was Released in December

In the afternoon part of the hearing, when the Judge read the documents that arrived in the file, it was revealed that the two detained defendants of the case, Bora Kaplan and Fethi Koyuncu, were released from this case because the legal period had expired during the review of their detention in December, and that the arrest warrant for Serdar Sertçelik was also lifted and an international judicial control measure was imposed.

In the meantime, it was understood that Serdar Sertçelik, who was placed in Sincan Prison after returning to Turkey, was transferred to Tekirdağ Prison three weeks ago.

“Murat Çelik Sent My Statement to Cevheri Güven”

Bora Kaplan, who was asked for his statement, spoke as follows:

“I have never appeared before you before, I want to explain my trouble briefly. Forget what I said, what the then-KOM Branch Manager Kerem Gökay Öner told is enough. They did not call the state’s TRT or agency to the operation at the airport, but T24, which publishes against the government and the state. Murat Çelik sent my statement to Cevheri Güven. There is a fake document for a while. I have been lying in prison for 2.5 years because of him (Serdar Sertçelik), but I do not blame him. Anyone facing these threats and promises would do the same. They set the date of the so-called criminal organization as July 15. Before I went to TRT that night, no one knew me. That day I gathered everyone and went to TRT. The question asked to me was, ‘How did you obtain these weapons?’ I could have blamed the state, but I did what suited me. Their stomach ache is July 15. Look, they are being tried for FETÖ now. Rather than being tried for FETÖ like them, being tried for a criminal organization is more honorable for me. They either found Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya’s vulnerability and are threatening him, or Mustafa Kaya is also cooperating with them. The day will come when he will be tried too. The president of the 32nd High Criminal Court, who tried us, directed the witnesses so much, can there be such judgeship? Now he has become a prosecutor, I hope it gets worse. They have no religion, faith, or fear of God. The reason they made the money laundering file is to seize property. They told a friend of ours, ‘Give 300 thousand dollars, we won’t arrest you.’ When he didn't give it, they arrested him. This time they wanted 2 million dollars to release him. He didn't give it again, he stayed for 8-9 months. The so-called crime income in this case is not worth 50 million dollars. But the Fethullahists acted together with Mustafa Kaya and seized billions of liras of the nation. Mustafa Kaya wrote me a letter regarding that found phone, ‘Do you have a statement, a witness to listen to?’ I said, ‘I have, but I will not present it to you. Because you are with them.’ Why do fugitive men like Cevheri Güven and Erk Acarer defend them? Please lift the measures on my companies, my children are about to go bankrupt. What will they eat and drink? May God show me Mustafa Kaya being tried.”

One of the defendants, former AKP Ankara Provincial Vice President and Çankaya Municipal Council Member Barış Kurt, said, “At least lift the measure on my property before 2016 so I can breathe. I am currently being extorted. Everything I have has been taken from me, I cannot even buy a package for my mobile phone,” while Hıncal Alper Tansu said the following:

“I have been on trial for 2.5 years. The police wanted money from us, and we ended up here. They arrested us. The statement I gave on the first day turned out to be true. Let’s not suffer for another 2.5 years. Is the expectation for crime income in this case 50-100 million? Let’s gather and give a letter of guarantee for this amount, give us our companies. You seized the title deed from 1970 that I inherited from my grandfather. Let our children continue their lives. May it come out of the children of the base police and the prosecutor.”

Sertçelik’s Lawyer: “M7’s Statement Cannot Be Taken as Basis for Judgment”

In the meantime, when the UYAP system malfunctioned, the Judge joked, “You broke UYAP by cursing.”

One of the defendants, Ozan Can Yıldız, emphasized that he was accused of defrauding Halkbank, but that Halkbank sent a wet-signed letter stating that he did not owe a single penny, and explained that he could not even get consent from the notary for his children, to which the Judge replied:

“You will complain about the screen at the notaries. The Notaries Union does this to protect itself. Go to the Ombudsman, to the Constitutional Court. If this man has a grievance, believe me, it has nothing to do with us. If we were the ones who made the decision not to give consent to the children, let’s lift it.”

Bora Kaplan’s sister, Safiye Çalış, stated that she and her 5 children and husband were very aggrieved, and that lifting the travel ban meant nothing when they had no bread to eat, and then turning to Serdar Sertçelik, she said, “I will hold you accountable in both worlds. So many people have been aggrieved for so many years because of you.”

Lawyer İbrahim Kama, the lawyer for one of the defendants, Tansel Aktan, asked what kind of harm the deprivation of rights in the restrictions imposed on credit cards caused to the public, and said, “I beg you, lift the measures on personal accounts. They have no credit cards, no IBANs. They cannot perform any transactions.” When Bora Kaplan’s lawyers said that 2 years had passed with the expert disaster and that the tax audit now requested would take at least 1 year, the Judge replied, “Finding an expert is not easy either. Not everyone is in line. I am not as pessimistic as you, I will not let it take 1 year.”

Finally, Serdar Sertçelik’s lawyers made their defense. Lawyer Ilgaz Teziş stated that the 19-page statement given by Serdar Sertçelik with the code M7, which is the backbone of the case, was taken with a legal massacre, and therefore it could not be taken as a basis for the judgment, and requested that the statement in question be removed from the file. Lawyer Alper Ekici also said, “Everything has happened to Serdar Sertçelik. As soon as he got rid of the pressure of the law enforcement, he started to explain that this was a frame-up. We are facing a power; Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya.”

After the statements were completed, the Prosecutor, who gave his opinion, requested that the requests of the defendants and their lawyers for the removal of the measures on assets and companies and judicial control measures be rejected.

After a 1-hour break, the Judge announced that all requests were rejected and the hearing was adjourned to September 15.