Seçil Erzan-style case in İzmir: Branch manager accused of 200 million lira fraud

A new Seçil Erzan-style case has occurred at a Bornova branch of a private bank in İzmir.

Hatice Ö., who is a branch manager at a private bank and also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Karşıyaka Sports Club and President of the Karşıyaka Infrastructure Basketball Team, allegedly collected approximately 200 million lira from three executives of the Karşıyaka Sports Club and two businesspeople under the guise of investing the funds in a high-yield account or purchasing gold.

ALLEGEDLY SENT MONEY TO THIRD PARTIES

However, it is alleged that Hatice Ö. did not invest the collected money in any fund or purchase gold, but instead sent the money to third parties. It is also claimed that she occasionally sent money to the people she collected funds from to meet their needs.

DETENTION ORDER ISSUED

Following complaints from the businesspeople, a detention order was issued for Hatice Ö.

STATEMENT FROM THE BANK

Police have launched an investigation to apprehend Hatice Ö., who is alleged to have defrauded hundreds of people in a similar manner.

In a statement, the bank in question announced that an investigation has been launched, an inspector has been appointed, and Hatice Ö.'s employment with the bank was terminated as of yesterday.

SUICIDE PILLS FOUND

It was revealed that Hatice Ö. attempted suicide by taking a large number of pills at her home; she later regretted her actions and sought treatment at İzmir City Hospital.

It was reported that Hatice Ö., whose life is not in danger, is under police guard and that detention procedures will begin following her treatment.

"THE FIGURES AND ALLEGATIONS ARE COMPLETELY IMAGINARY"

The first statement regarding the incident came from Denizbank CEO Hakan Ateş. Speaking at a chat meeting with journalists in Hamburg, Hakan Ateş stated that they have continued to work with more than 90 percent of the employees of Tarişbank, which they acquired in 2002, and that Hatice Ö. was also a former Tarişbank employee. Stating that they learned Hatice Ö. claimed she was 'in debt due to her mother's and her own health problems,' Ateş continued as follows:

'I believe the investigations will be concluded by the beginning of next week'

“We are following the news regarding the incident from here. In the investigations conducted so far, there is no debt-credit record in the bank yet. Is this a banking transaction or not? Our Inspection Board is investigating this together with the prosecutor's office. We have provided information to the prosecutor's office and the financial police. It also needs to be investigated in terms of money laundering. We went through the same investigation process in the previous incident (the Seçil Erzan case).

When this first incident emerged, the feeling that it was a Ponzi scheme had already arisen initially because we did not encounter any records in our cameras or any debt-credit records regarding the money given by the complainants in our first 2-3 hours of research.

Both the BRSA (BDDK), the prosecutor's office, and the expert witness confirmed us. In the current incident, since the investigation is ongoing, I cannot make an assessment as to whether it is a fraud case or embezzlement. However, I can say that the figures and allegations reflected on social media are completely imaginary.

There is a world of difference between the figures conveyed to us by our Inspection Board and the figures mentioned in the news in question. Furthermore, no connection has been found with the businesspeople whose names were used, and it is understood that this has also been fabricated. I believe the investigations will be concluded by the beginning of next week.”

Ateş stated that embezzlement and fraud incidents occur all over the world, and for this reason, banks pay millions of dollars in premiums to secure themselves against such losses and take out insurance policies.

News Source: 12punto