Lawsuit filed against Veyis Ateş, who made headlines with Sedat Peker's allegations

A lawsuit has been filed against Veyis Ateş, who made headlines with allegations that he demanded 10 million Euros from Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, seeking a prison sentence of two to five years for the crime of trading in influence.

While Veyis Ateş was working as a presenter on HaberTürk TV, it was alleged that he met with Sezgin Baran Korkmaz—who had fled abroad after an investigation was launched against him for money laundering following Sedat Peker's allegations—and that he would take initiatives for his return to Turkey in exchange for 10 million Euros. A phone recording, which was claimed to be between Ateş and Korkmaz, was sent to the Council of Forensic Medicine, which concluded that there were similarities in the voices.  

Sözcü columnist İsmail Saymaz wrote that Ateş's file was transferred to the Terror and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau and that a lawsuit had been filed against him. Stating that Ateş called the allegations in question "Fabricated, lies, blackmail, montage," Saymaz noted that Fatih Altaylı and Sevilay Yılman also provided their statements as witnesses in the case. 

The relevant section of İsmail Saymaz's article titled "Lawsuit for trading in influence filed against Veyis Ateş" is as follows: 

"The prosecutor's office obtained the voice recordings between Korkmaz and Ateş from the internet.

Ateş: Uh, this story I told on Halk TV is the story I told you. Only one thing worries me here. Uh, your soul is wounded.

Korkmaz: Yes, that's right.

Ateş: You are angry, you are furious. After that, you want to set the world on fire, etc. This is the only issue this side is sensitive about, I told you this at the beginning too. I was just asked, uh, will he do something? Will he burn us, destroy us, will he talk, will he do anything, they say.

Korkmaz: No, brother.

Ateş: I said no, we have trust.

Korkmaz: May God be pleased with you. Ateş: Since I met with him, since I acted as an arbitrator, (inaudible), I said we would have no trust issues. After that, they listed the things we talked about.

The recording was forwarded to the Council of Forensic Medicine. The report issued by the Forensic Medicine Voice and Image Analysis Branch stated that 'similarities were observed in terms of gender, age, speech rhythm, voice timbre, intonation, and emphasis.' The report stated that the recording of the meeting between Ateş and Korkmaz was compared with Ateş's voice samples and said: 'The analyzed voice samples show similarities with the voice samples subject to comparison.'

This investigation had been shelved after the statements of Yılman and Altaylı were taken. However, after Soylu was removed from the Ministry of Interior following the elections on May 14-28 last year, it was taken off the shelf. The file was given to the Terror and Organized Crime Bureau. The voice recordings were sent to Forensic Medicine. Ateş was called to testify on December 12, 2023. While he was an informant in the file two years ago, this time he was processed as a suspect.

(...)

Regarding the allegations in the indictment, Ateş said, 'From the first day, I have been saying, "They are all lies, entirely fiction." We live in the digital age. It is a period where anyone who wants to can easily get their work done with fabrication, lies, blackmail, and montage... I hope no one faces slander and is forced to prove their innocence in courts, especially against names that have become crime machines. The filing of the lawsuit was good for me. It became an opportunity for me to explain this unfair accusation and slander in court. Moreover, gendarmerie and police reports stated that the voice recordings were not real, and that they could not be determined only in the forensic medicine report.'

Ateş will appear before the judge at the Istanbul 40th Criminal Court of First Instance on June 28, 2024.

Journalists Sevilay Yılman and Fatih Altaylı also provided their statements."

News Source: 12punto