Taşkesenlioğlu in court: Asked about $2.5 million, she said 'I will remain silent'
Testifying in the trial where Ünsal Ban is a defendant, former AK Party Erzurum MP Zehra Taşkesenlioğlu said, "I wish to exercise my right to remain silent" regarding the $2.5 million she allegedly gave to Ban.
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Sözcü columnist İsmail Saymaz shared the testimony given by Zehra Taşkesenlioğlu, who attended the second hearing on October 2 for Ünsal Ban, who was detained for violating the privacy of personal life by allegedly leaking a video of Taşkesenlioğlu to Peker, and subsequently charged with laundering assets derived from crime.
'I WISH TO EXERCISE MY RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT'
The section regarding the subject in Saymaz's article:
"In the case at the Ankara 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, Taşkesenlioğlu and Ban aired all their dirty laundry to each other. The first hearing was on September 8. Referring to the boat they purchased in 2020, Taşkesenlioğlu said:
'We had bought a small boat. He sold it without my knowledge and bought a bigger one. He said he bought it for four million Euros. It didn't seem believable. Since the money was far above my economic living standards, I learned this price when we went to take delivery. I was shocked. Returning to Turkey,
I filed for divorce.'
Taşkesenlioğlu's claim that she divorced because of a 4 million Euro boat is truly ridiculous! Because there is no mention of such a decision in the divorce petition.
........
Ban's lawyer, Ersan Şen, asked how she earned the $2.5 million she stated in the divorce petition that she 'gave to Ünsal Ban' and in what manner she gave it. Faced with this question, Taşkesenlioğlu uttered incomprehensible sentences and said:
"It was collected in installments as dollars, gold, and Turkish Lira, and all of it was recorded as this $2.5 million. I am exercising my right to remain silent regarding whether or not it was given to Ban."
However, in her divorce petition, it is written: 'The amount I handed over is approximately 2,500,000 US dollars.'"
WHAT HAD HAPPENED?
Peker had alleged that former Capital Markets Board (SPK) Chairman Ali Fuat Taşkesenlioğlu and his sister, AKP Erzurum MP Zehra Taşkesenlioğlu, demanded a 12 million TL bribe from Mine Tozlu Sineren, the owner of Marka Yatırım Holding, for a capital increase.