Prosecutor's 'HSK complaint' grudge emerges behind handcuffing of lawyer

Ersin Eroğlu/ 12punto EXCLUSIVE

Vatan Party Muğla Provincial Chair and lawyer Emre Aykın was detained on July 10 after his home and law office were searched. Emre Aykın, who was released after giving his statement, noted that despite his warnings to the police during the search of his home, no prosecutor or bar association official was present. The police who came to the house handcuffed Aykın while they were searching the premises.

PROSECUTOR'S 'HSK COMPLAINT' GRUDGE

It has emerged that Emre Aykın had filed a complaint against the prosecutor who issued the detention and search warrant, M.Ş.K., with the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK).

In the 2021 HSK complaint petition, Emre Aykın stated that his client, Soner Polat, was subjected to torture at the Muğla Police Department's Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM) branch after being apprehended, and that the prosecutor asked similar questions following the police interrogation. The complaint petition stated that the prosecutor asked Soner Polat questions about another prosecutor, Doğukan Yılmazer, and showed him a folder in his hand, saying, “This is Doğukan's file.” In his complaint, Aykın stated that prosecutor M.Ş.K. had his client tortured through the law enforcement officers under his command and that the prosecutor had exceeded his duties and responsibilities by investigating another prosecutor.

PROSECUTOR ENTERING THE OFFICE: 'WHERE IS THE SAFE?'

The first question asked by the prosecutor who entered Emre Aykın's law office to conduct a search was, “Where is the safe?” The response from Aykın's partner, lawyer Fatih Alperen Şahin, was, “How do you know about a safe?” The prosecutor replied, “We received information.” While conducting the search, the prosecutor also seized the complaint petition filed against himself. Although the seized documents should not have been opened without the presence of a lawyer after being sealed, Fatih Alperen Şahin intervened when the judge and prosecutor attempted to open them. He retrieved the documents, stating that the complaint petition had no connection to the accusation.

THE SUICIDE FILE

The first file that brought lawyer Emre Aykın and prosecutor M.Ş.K. into conflict was the suicide of a security guard working at the Muğla Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanization. Following the suicide, an attempt was made in 2020 to include Ahmet Faruk Ağır, whom Emre Aykın represented, in the suicide file on charges of usury. Emre Aykın told the prosecutor and police conducting the investigation that those who caused the security guard's suicide had come to him asking him to represent them. Aykın stated that the incident had nothing to do with Ahmet Faruk Ağır, whom he represented. Following the first appeal made after Ahmet Faruk Ağır was arrested for usury, Ağır was released. Upon the prosecutor's objection to the decision, the duty court ordered Ağır's re-arrest. However, Ağır was released again at the first hearing held 6 months later.

QUESTIONED ABOUT LEGAL ACTIVITIES

The accusation directed at Emre Aykın after he was detained was money laundering. In the MASAK report that entered the file during the investigation launched in 2022, the prosecutor asks about two striking points. One is a sudden increase in account activity, and the other is a transfer of 50 thousand dollars sent abroad.
Emre Aykın states that he was managing the process on behalf of his father and brother by selling a plot of land inherited from his mother in Bodrum with a power of attorney from his family, and that this was the reason for the increase in account activity. Regarding the other question, he says he was collecting money for a person he was consulting for in another case and sending it abroad. Aykın responds to both questions with evidence.

It has been learned that the prosecutor launched the investigation without the “reasonable suspicion of a crime” required to initiate it, and that he did not obtain the investigation permit required by law despite making an accusation based on legal practice.

'PREDICATE CRIME' SCANDAL

The prosecutor links Emre Aykın's detention to a “predicate crime.” Although it has taken 20 years for the concept of “predicate crime” to enter the legal literature in Turkey, some prosecutors can carry out the concept unlawfully during the investigation process. For the accusation of “money laundering” directed at Aykın to be established, the associated crime must be finalized. However, there is no finalized usury crime in the judiciary regarding Ahmet Faruk Ağır, nor was any usury detected in the expert report.

Therefore, an investigation cannot be legally initiated due to a “predicate crime.”

LAWYER'S STATEMENT TAKEN BY THE PROSECUTOR HE COMPLAINED TO THE HSK

Emre Aykın's statement was also taken by the prosecutor he had complained to the HSK, M.Ş.K. This situation drew reactions, as another prosecutor should have taken the statement due to the past grudge between them. The prosecutor whom Aykın had complained to the HSK 2 years ago was the one who first issued the detention order, then went to his office to search it, and finally took his statement. Despite Aykın making accusations against the prosecutor in his police statement, prosecutor M.Ş.K., with whom he has a grudge, carried out the procedures for re-taking the statement, referring him for judicial control, and applying measures.