Lawyers for former İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer issued a written statement following the court's decision to return the indictment prepared as part of the cooperative investigation. The lawyers called for his release, pointing out that the actions attributed to Soyer in the return decision could not be substantiated.
The 1,008-page indictment, prepared as part of the investigation conducted by the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the S.S. Business People Gaziemir Housing Construction Cooperative, includes 17 individuals, among them Tunç Soyer, former CHP İzmir Provincial Chair Şenol Aslanoğlu, former İZBETON General Manager Heval Savaş Kaya, and former CHP Ankara Provincial Chair Ümit Erkol.
In the indictment, the suspects are charged with "embezzlement," "aiding and abetting embezzlement," "forgery of official documents by a public official," "qualified fraud," "causing embezzlement or extortion by neglecting supervisory duties," and "violation of the Cooperatives Law," in accordance with the prosecutor's assessments.
LAWYERS EMPHASIZE RETURN DECISION
The lawyers' statement recalled that the indictment, filed on September 28, was returned by the İzmir 11th High Criminal Court on October 5. The defense stated that the court's grounds for return supported the objections they had previously raised.
It has not been substantiated who committed which crime, how much money was embezzled, which document was forged, or who is held responsible for which action.
The statement argued that expert and MASAK (Financial Crimes Investigation Board) reports were included in the indictment without evaluation, and that evidence in favor of the suspects was not discussed.
Pointing to the court's return decision regarding Soyer, the lawyers stated that it could not be shown which specific behavior of the former mayor aided which act of embezzlement in the cooperative. The statement claimed that no decision made by Soyer, no instruction given, no document signed, nor any concrete evidence demonstrating criminal intent was specified.
It was reported that after the indictment was returned, the prosecutor's office appealed the decision, and the İzmir 12th High Criminal Court accepted the appeal with a dissenting vote. Following this decision, the file was sent back to the İzmir 11th High Criminal Court.
The lawyers argued that the higher court's acceptance of the appeal did not eliminate the deficiencies pointed out in the first court's return decision. The statement posed the question: "Why is Tunç Soyer, whose specific action in aiding any crime has not even been demonstrated, still detained?"
Soyer’s lawyers requested that the İzmir 11th High Criminal Court end his detention along with its interim decision and grant his release in line with the return decision.
The statement also included the hearing schedule. Accordingly, the hearing for the first case in which Soyer was released and is being tried without detention will be held on October 16 at 10:00, and the hearing for the second case in which he is being tried while in detention will be held on November 18 at 10:30 at the Aliağa Şakran Prison.
News Source: 12punto
