Paramount Hotel investigation: Release decision for Cihan Ekşioğlu, but detention continues

A release decision has been issued for businessman Cihan Ekşioğlu, who was arrested as part of the investigation into the Paramount Hotel.

A new development has occurred in the investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the allegation of the "seizure of the Paramount Hotel."

A release decision was issued for businessman Ekşioğlu, who is currently in custody as part of the ongoing investigation, after 37 days regarding the charge of "laundering assets derived from crime." It was stated that Ekşioğlu will not be released from prison as he remains in custody on charges of "usury."

In addition to the charges of "laundering assets derived from crime" and "usury," Ekşioğlu had also been accused of "establishing an organization for the purpose of committing crimes."

RELEASE FROM CHARGES OTHER THAN "USURY" UPON APPEAL

According to the information obtained, Ekşioğlu's lawyers filed an appeal with the Criminal Court of Peace for the removal of his detention. The prosecution submitted an opinion for the continuation of the detention, and the court rejected the appeal. While the court ruled for the continuation of the detention, the lawyers then appealed to the higher court, the Criminal Court of First Instance. The prosecution again submitted an opinion for the continuation of the detention. The Criminal Court of First Instance, however, issued a release decision regarding the charges other than "usury."

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES

It was reported that the investigation into Ekşioğlu, who remains in prison as his detention on the charge of "usury" continues, and other suspects is still ongoing.

"PARAMOUNT HOTEL" INVESTIGATION

In the investigation where Ufuk Turizm İşletmeleri San. Tic. AŞ is the complainant, it was determined that the suspects allegedly took advantage of the company's foreclosure status in 2019 and thereafter to burden it with debt to companies under their management, and then provided that debt to the complainant company by charging interest.

It was determined that the suspects also took over the usufruct rights of the The Plaza Bodrum (formerly Jumeirah Hotel, Paramount Hotel, Be Premium Hotel) in Bodrum, Muğla, for which the complainant company held the usufruct rights, and that Cihan Ekşioğlu and Şaban Kayıkçı operated the hotel together.

SEDAT PEKER HAD BROUGHT IT TO THE AGENDA

The name Paramount Hotel entered Turkey's agenda following the revelations of organized crime leader Sedat Peker. Peker had claimed that the hotel was seized. Peker had said, "There is a Paramount Hotel in Bodrum. Who is the owner? Sezgin Baran Korkmaz. This friend is wanted in Turkey, and in America too. Turkey is looking for him separately, America is looking for him separately."

Sezgin Baran Korkmaz had taken the hotel under his company, Unico Sigorta. In 2021, he leased the hotel to Şaban Kayıkçı, one of the names detained in the operation. Kayıkçı had changed the name of the hotel to Duja Premium. Following Peker's revelations, this lease agreement was terminated.

Investigations opened against SBK before he fled abroad remained inconclusive. The measures on his assets were lifted upon the request of the then-Istanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Hasan Yılmaz and a non-existent MASAK report. Goods acquired with laundered money were sold abroad in front of the state's eyes. SBK, who was summoned to the Ministry of Interior and met with Süleyman Soylu, went abroad the next day and disappeared.

It was alleged that Cihan Ekşioğlu, who was detained as part of the investigation, played a critical role in the process of seizing the hotel. Victoria Yasemin Uras, the daughter of Atilla Uras, the founder and first owner of the hotel, had made striking statements on this subject.

Uras stated that Botır Rakhimov, an Uzbek-born individual who was a tenant at the hotel and later given Turkish citizenship by Spain and the FBI under the name Bahtiyar İkramoğlu, began pressuring her father Atilla Uras with excuses such as "The hotel is not doing business, I cannot make money," and said, "This person seized our hotel."

Uras said, "A person named Cihan Ekşioğlu appeared next to Botır. Cihan Ekşioğlu entered our hotel with a state tank on the day my father passed away. Ekşioğlu was renovating state barracks at the time. He conquered the hotel. I have never seen such a thing anywhere in the world; you take a state tank and come through the roads with that tank and enter the hotel," she said.

While Uras stated that they did not receive money from the sale of the hotel, she expressed that she learned the hotel had passed to Sezgin Baran Korkmaz from Twitter. After Sezgin Baran Korkmaz was caught in the USA, the hotel passed to Şaban Kayıkçı in 2023. Later, it was sealed.

News Source: 12punto