The forgotten 'Sisi' tip-off in the Dilan Polat case: Cem Küçük said 'We have a mindset that says you can't get rich on your own,' but...

Caner Taşpınar - 12punto.com.tr

Social media influencer Dilan Polat and her husband Engin Polat are in prison on charges of "establishing and managing an organization for the purpose of committing crimes," "laundering assets derived from crime," and "violating the Law on the Regulation of Betting and Games of Chance in Football and Other Sports Competitions."

The Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) prepared a 909-page report regarding the case involving the couple, Dilan Polat and Engin Polat. While Dilan Polat was expected to be released following the report, lawyers filed an objection to their clients' detention at the Anatolian 4th High Criminal Court on July 19, following the MASAK report prepared within the scope of the case. The file went to the Anatolian 5th High Criminal Court, and no release decision was issued.

Both the indictment and the MASAK report regarding the Polat couple focused on tax evasion and fake invoicing, but "money laundering" could not be established. Legal experts had stated that for a "money laundering" determination, the police needed to collect technical and physical surveillance evidence.

Türkiye newspaper columnist Cem Küçük wrote that social media influencer Dilan Polat and her husband Engin Polat, who are in prison on "money laundering" charges, have been treated "unfairly." In his column today, Küçük penned the following lines for the Polat couple:

"Dilan and Engin Polat have made large sales since 2022. Their beauty centers are working well. It is unclear if they are still operating. But they became targets because they 'acted in a vulgar manner' on social media. In our country, there is already a mindset that says 'you cannot get rich on your own.' There must be someone behind you. However, Dilan and Engin Polat only evaded taxes and issued fake invoices. The penalty for this is clear. Tax evasion in Turkey is not a major crime like it is in America. Furthermore, even in the US, a monetary fine is imposed first."

So, who was the one digging up the Polats' garden with heavy machinery?

In other words, let's take a look at what has changed since the beginning of the Polat investigation...

First, let's remember.

In a column he wrote 8 months ago, Cem Küçük had again defended the Dilan-Engin Polat couple, saying, "If it's money laundering, it's money laundering; if it's clean money, it's clean money. You cannot proceed based on gossip every day."

Let's continue.

THE TRAIL OF THE POLAT INVESTIGATION

The first investigation into the Dilan and Engin Polat couple, who were arrested on charges of money laundering, tax evasion, and establishing an organization, began at the Çağlayan Courthouse.

Following the public outcry over allegations regarding the couple's luxurious lifestyle, the Istanbul Police Department's Financial Crimes Investigation Branch and the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) took action. In its report, MASAK stated that the total amount of suspicious goods purchases from shell companies was over 200 million TL.

Following the MASAK report, the Istanbul Police Department applied to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for a travel ban and the seizure of assets for the suspects. However, the prosecutor's office stated that they did not have the authority to do so because the couple's companies were on the Anatolian side of Istanbul.

While the file was sitting on the shelf due to a jurisdictional dispute, magazine figure Seyhan Soylu, nicknamed "Sisi," went to the Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and gave a statement about the Polat couple. After the statement Soylu gave to Prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü on September 27, 2023, the investigation accelerated, and operations were carried out in October.

THE EXCAVATOR THAT ENTERED DİLAN POLAT'S GARDEN

As part of the investigation, a search, seizure, and inspection decision was issued for 15 companies belonging to the Polat family on October 27. Acting on the decision, teams from the Financial Crimes Investigation Branch and tax inspectors searched the companies. During the searches, digital materials and ledgers seized at the companies were taken under review, and the confiscated materials were taken to the police station by the teams. Later, police teams entered the house with a heavy machine called an "excavator" and conducted an excavation. Were the police who entered Dilan Polat's house with an excavator looking for fake invoices instead of "money laundering"?

THE POLICE'S LUXURY VEHICLE EXHIBITION

Today, the Dilan Polat file is evaluated as having fallen victim to the public's perception, with claims that it was a "lynching of a vulgar influencer" and that "getting rich on your own is not accepted in our country."

Well, were the citizens who "could not stand" the Polats also the ones who exhibited their luxury vehicles after the excavator entered the garden of the Polats' luxury home?

The "exhibition" event on November 2, 2023, at the Istanbul Police Department took on a different dimension. Both the vehicles were exhibited and the footage of the operation was reflected on an LED screen. Journalists, in particular, were surprised to see this, as such an exhibition was a first.

Following the operation against the Polat couple, the vehicles from the couple's homes and workplaces were loaded onto tow trucks and taken to the Istanbul Police Department. The vehicles from the couple's homes and workplaces, which were taken away on tow trucks, were exhibited at the Istanbul Police Department. Among the exhibited vehicles, the most notable were the Ferrari that Engin Polat bought for Dilan Polat for her birthday and the G-Class Mercedes belonging to Engin Polat. During the exhibition, operation footage was broadcast on the LED screen in the police courtyard.

Those who watched the footage of the excavator entering Dilan Polat and her husband Engin Polat's house, and then watched the exhibition of their luxury vehicles, are accused of lynching. No one asks why these were done then?

Let's continue.

It's time for what was written in the tip-off letter by Seyhan Soylu, nicknamed "Sisi," who started the Polat investigation...

SİSİ'S DİLAN POLAT TIP-OFF

In her statement, Seyhan Soylu claimed that Engin Polat had been involved in fake invoicing in the past and had laundered money for Veysel Şahin, known as a "betting baron."

A part of Soylu's tip-off is as follows:

"In the complainant's statement submitted to the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, in summary;

The suspect named Engin Polat is a person who has been involved in fake invoicing and check fraud in his past. He is a person who worked as a taxi driver until 6 years ago and worked as a shop assistant before that. In recent years, through the relationships they have established, they have been generating income by laundering betting money obtained from Veysel Şahin (illegal betting leader) and Falyalı, who was killed in Cyprus, through high-amount invoices cut with data obtained under the guise of so-called trade (based on the lie that one million products are sold per month), through Dilan Polat Diamond, foundations, beauty centers, and other companies, foreign exchange and jewelry firms opened in the name of Engin Polat, and the claim of machinery exports abroad (Bulgaria, etc.). In this way, they not only cause damage to the state but also cause a loss of reputation. Engin Polat has pressured people he has conflicts with by using the name Muhammed Yakut, and has constantly tried to show his presence in the underworld with that name. The suspect Engin Polat has repeatedly claimed that he is powerful because he finances Muhammed Yakut. Until 2 months ago, the person named Muhammed Yakut called my client and said, 'Engin Polat is our brother, I want you to stop the research you have done about him.' My client replied, 'I'm sorry, I cannot accept this, I will continue to report the news.' However, the person named Muhammed Yakut and Engin Polat called my client frequently and threatened her. Likewise, they stated that they had Muhammed Yakut call her many times.

They frequently addressed my client, saying, 'Sister, look, don't do it, don't mess with us, Muhammed Yakut is also calling you, don't burn yourself, I am Muhammed's financier and boss.' My client replied, 'Your threats don't work on me, I've known Muhammed Yakut for a long time, he is a decent man. But everyone knows that I am an ultra-nationalist and a statist; I cannot approve of the words he said about the state officials he challenged, especially our President, our ministers, especially Hakan Fidan, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor, the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor, the Istanbul Police Chief Zafer Aktaş, the Organized Crime Branch Manager, and the valuable statesman I have known personally, İbrahim Kalın, who is at the head of the state's most important institution, the National Intelligence Organization, even if my father came out of the grave. The same applies to Sedat Peker. In addition to this, my client was extremely uncomfortable with the insulting words of Muhammed Yakut for her very close friend and patron, businessman Fevzi Siverek, and businessman Metin Güneş, whom she values as an older brother, and said, 'Why are you making these slanders, does it suit you, Muhammed? You have known these people for a long time, Can Tanrıyar filled you up, Metin brother acted like a lion, did good deeds, a father to the poor, he has been a leader to 1000 people in the sector, you should 'shoot an apology video' for these two friends of mine and the valuable offices of my State. So that I don't expose my research with Engin Polat. You should not make people's personal relationships discredit the state office. I do not tolerate people who are symbols of Kurdish youth and Turkish youth challenging the state, I am a journalist, but first and foremost I am a patriot, a nationalist, a person deeply in love with her State.'

Dubai Dilan Polat Foundation and companies belonging to Engin Polat, the products that are supposedly sold in 1,000,000 units, and fake invoices have been part of the actions subject to the lawsuit. Members of the gang caught in the 230 million dollar invoice operation recently carried out by the police have stated that they have relationships with Engin Polat. In the conversation Muhammed Yakut had with my client via WhatsApp, he said to Engin Polat, 'Son, don't use my name in such shady businesses, in organizations that rob the state, in groups and gangs that rob the orphan and the poor, how can you say Muhammed Yakut protects me, you SHAMELESS, are you trying to find your way by pitting us against people, we acted like brothers to you, when you were doing normal trade, we didn't say anything when you used our name against those who stood up to you, but don't use my name against people who rob the state in such scams.'"

ENGİN POLAT'S RESPONSE TO THE SİSİ QUESTION

After the section quoted from Seyhan Soylu's tip-off petition, Engin Polat was asked for his explanation. Polat gave the following response:

"I do not know any of the people mentioned in the text read to me, I only had a cosmetic company with Muhammet Yakut 3 years ago, I used to buy small things from him, I do not have a very large commercial activity with this company, and I haven't for a long time, I do not accept any of the accusations, I did not call anyone, I did not threaten anyone, these allegations are baseless, I do not know Veysel Şahin, I have no meetings with him, I do not accept the allegations regarding this either, they are baseless."

THE BRIBERY INCIDENT IN THE JUDICIARY THAT EXPLODED AT THE SAME TIME AS THE POLAT FILE

If two events that shook Turkey are happening one after another, could there be a meaning to it?

2 days after the MASAK report news about Dilan Polat was published for the first time in the Sabah newspaper, another event occupied the country's agenda: the petition in which the then Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor İsmail Uçar confessed to bribery in the judiciary... Was it a "coincidence" that two major events in Turkey occurred on the same days?

The chief prosecutor who complained about bribery in the judiciary was sent to the Court of Cassation. Everyone was interpreting the issue as "those who exposed the crisis in the judiciary and those who created the crisis in the judiciary." Unfortunately, that is not true. What is certain is that there is a crisis in the judiciary, but one should look at why those who exposed the corruption in the judiciary by saying "I felt like explaining it today" chose that day.