Tanju Özcan's 'please read' post: I was arrested while in prison around 02:00 last night on charges of 'fraud'

Özcan, who was imprisoned on charges of fraud through the Bolsev Foundation of which he is the president, stated that a new accusation has been directed at him through the same foundation and that a new arrest warrant has been issued against him.

Özcan explained the reason for the second arrest warrant issued against him in a social media post and expressed his reaction with the following words:

"TO THE ATTENTION OF THE PUBLIC

Please read my statement to the end before forming an opinion about me!

I was arrested while in prison around 02:00 last night on charges of “fraud”. The reason for the arrest is allegedly collecting “sacrificial donations” for the Bolsev Foundation in 2025 and not slaughtering the animals!!

1- The Bolsev Foundation, which I chair and which was established for charitable purposes (providing scholarships to students, providing wheelchairs to the disabled, building nursing homes, etc.), has absolutely not conducted a “donation campaign for animal sacrifice”. It is the Bolu Municipality that conducted a campaign by obtaining permission from the Bolu Governorship for sacrificial donations! The Bolu Municipality also performed the sacrifices with the donations collected as part of the campaign and stored the meat to be used for cooking in the soup kitchen!

2- During the 2025 Eid al-Adha period, it was seen that some donations made to the foundation were marked with the word “sacrifice”, likely due to confusion with the municipality. During this period, donations made to the foundation with or without the “sacrifice” note were collected in a separate account and blocked until the inspection by the General Directorate of Foundations. Contrary to what is written and said in pro-government media outlets, not a single penny of the money has been touched, and no aid has been provided to anyone from this money. (Foundation accounts are with the prosecutor's office)

3- In the investigation carried out by the prosecutor's office, the donation amount subject to the claim is around 800 thousand TL, and a total of 35 people made this donation; in the statements taken, none of them said 'I was deceived, I made this donation through fraud', nor did they make a statement saying 'I have suffered a loss, I am a complainant'."

TO THE ATTENTION OF THE PUBLIC!?

Please read my statement to the end before forming an opinion about me!

I was arrested while in prison around 02:00 last night on charges of “fraud”. The reason for the arrest is allegedly collecting “sacrificial donations” for the Bolsev Foundation in 2025 and not slaughtering the animals…

— Tanju ÖZCAN (@tanjuozcanchp) April 11, 2026

News Source: 12punto