A Turkish court has ordered main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to pay President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his relatives another TL 359,000 ($52,000) in damages for his allegations that they had secretly transferred money to an offshore company based in the Isle of Man, in addition to an earlier sanction of $29,000 that was imposed on Tuesday, the T24 news website reported.
Kılıçdaroğlu was fined this time over his remarks during a parliamentary group meeting on Nov. 21, 2017, while the earlier fine was imposed for the same allegations he raised a week later.
The beneficiaries involve President Erdoğan, his two sons and two daughters, his brother, his uncle and four fathers-in-law of his children.
Kılıçdaroğlu alleged that in 2011 the group had conducted transfers amounting to $18 million to an offshore company based in the Isle of Man, a tax haven. The opposition leader produced SWIFT codes and bank claims to back up his claims.
The allegations resulted in Kılıçdaroğlu being sued for damages by Erdoğan and his close circle.
After an initial court decision to fine the opposition politician in November 2019 was overturned by an appeals court, the case was heard again.
Members of the appeals court that overturned the initial ruling reportedly came under political pressure afterwards, with some members even being denied their right to leave without pay.