Controversial move by Halkbank General Manager: Million-dollar loans and tenders for cousins

Striking connections between Osman Arslan, who has served as General Manager and Board Member at Türkiye Halk Bankası AŞ since 2017, and his cousin Cüneyt Arslan, General Manager of the Ankara-based YDA Group, have ignited a new controversy.

According to a report by Tarık Işık from Nefes newspaper, Halkbank granted a 250 million dollar foreign currency loan to YDA Group in 2019. YDA operates in many sectors, including construction, healthcare, aviation, and agriculture.

LOAN CONVERTED TO TL DURING CURRENCY CRISIS

It has emerged that during the period following 2019, when the Turkish economy experienced a currency shock and the Turkish Lira lost value rapidly, YDA Group's dollar-based debt was converted into Turkish Lira under advantageous terms.

HALKBANK ALSO AWARDED FINANCIAL CENTER CONSTRUCTION TO YDA

The connection between the Arslan cousins is not limited to this. YDA Group also won the construction tender for the building belonging to Halkbank within the scope of the Istanbul International Financial Center being built in Ataşehir, Istanbul. The project's delivery time was extended, and the cost was reviewed multiple times.

During the construction of the Halkbank building, price revisions were made 4 times due to the extension of the process and additional requests. It was stated that as a result of these changes, additional payments were made to YDA Group.