MASAK report revealed! CHP's İlgezdi: Turkey has turned into a 'haven' for money laundering

CHP Istanbul MP Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi evaluated the 2023 MASAK report in a written statement. 

Claiming that "Turkey has turned into a haven for money laundering," İlgezdi noted the following:

"It was observed that there was a 41 percent increase in suspicious transaction reports filed with the Presidency in 2023 compared to the previous year. The number of reports received also increased approximately 3-fold. While 226 thousand 222 reports were filed in 2019, this number rose to 615 thousand 63 in 2023. Of the reports filed, 28 percent were for tax evasion, 25 percent for gambling, 11 percent for fraud, 10 percent for failure to declare transactions made on behalf of others, 2 percent for cybercrimes, and 2 percent for unlicensed payment and electronic money services.

"INCREASE REACHED 3-FOLD"

The number of individuals about whom suspicious transaction reports were filed increased approximately 4-fold compared to 2019. While suspicious transaction reports were filed for 346 thousand 599 people in 2019, this number reached 1 million 141 thousand 441 in 2023. In 5 years, the number of people reported for suspicious transactions reached 2 million 837 thousand 751. Turkey has turned into a haven for money laundering. There was an approximately 3-fold increase in crimes related to money laundering. While 188 thousand 924 reports were filed for money laundering accusations in 2019, this rose to 597 thousand 518 in 2023. The number of reports filed in 5 years reached 1 million 946 thousand 609.

ILLEGAL BETTING, LOAN SHARKING, DRUG TRAFFICKING...

In 2023, reports and notifications were made by judicial law enforcement regarding 16 thousand 44 people for financing terrorism, 7 thousand 871 people for fraud, 5 thousand 147 people for organizing illegal betting or gambling, 2 thousand 701 people for unexplained income or suspicious financial transactions, 2 thousand 22 people for loan sharking, 1988 people for drug trafficking, 1548 people under the Law on Declaration of Assets and Combating Bribery and Corruption, 1435 people for establishing a criminal organization, 937 people for human smuggling, 473 people for tax evasion, 376 people for theft and robbery, 272 people for forgery of documents, 213 people for customs smuggling, 203 people for arms and explosives smuggling, 150 people for prostitution, 147 people for intentional homicide, and 95 people for bid rigging. It was determined that 148 natural persons and 159 legal entities identified as financing weapons of mass destruction had assets in Turkey. Asset freezing decisions were issued for these individuals in the last 3 years."