UK-based holding company WE Soda Ltd said Turkish businessman Turgay Ciner, the person who ultimately controls the company, is no longer the subject of an arrest warrant in Turkey after authorities formally withdrew it amid further developments in a high-profile financial investigation in Turkey involving companies linked to his business group.
In a statement released on Monday to inform stakeholders, WE Soda said the warrant for Ciner, also a former media boss, had been rescinded and confirmed that court-appointed trusteeship imposed on Park Holding, one of the core companies of the Ciner Group, had been lifted and replaced with a temporary supervisory regime overseen by Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF).
Turkish prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Ciner, while a court put his group’s Park Holding and its subsidiaries under the control of TMSF in late September 2025, all part of a money-laundering investigation.
Twelve executives at companies affiliated with the Ciner Group, including Ciner’s son, Atilla Ciner, and Ciner Glass chief executive Gökhan Şen, were taken into custody as part of the investigation.
Atilla Ciner and Şen were subsequently arrested, while the remaining suspects were released under judicial supervision. The two were freed from jail on December 24.
WE Soda said the statement was made solely on its own behalf and not on behalf of Ciner or other companies in the Ciner Group while reiterating that WE Soda itself was not a subject of the investigation and that its operations, governance, financing arrangements and financial position had not been affected.
WE Soda, which operates natural soda ash production facilities and is headquartered in the UK, has sought throughout the process to reassure investors and partners that the investigation has had no impact on its business activities or financial standing.
An İstanbul court ruled on January 14 to lift the TMSF trusteeship imposed on Park Holding and its subsidiaries, retaining only a limited supervisory role.
WE Soda also confirmed this in its statement.
Turgay Ciner, 70, became a target in an expanding probe into Can Holding, a separate conglomerate that was taken over by the TMSF last year, as prosecutors cited suspicions of money laundering in the acquisition of several Ciner-owned media outlets, including Habertürk TV and Show, by Can Holding in 2024.
Turgay Ciner is one of Turkey’s most prominent businessmen, with interests spanning energy, mining, chemicals and media. He founded Park Holding in 1978 and later built it into a diversified conglomerate, at one point controlling companies such as Eti Soda, among the world’s largest soda ash producers.
Ciner was also a major media player from the late 1990s until 2024. He acquired Habertürk, Show TV and Bloomberg HT, along with other outlets, before transferring all his media holdings to Can Holding in December 2024 as part of what his group described as a strategic exit from the sector.
Once ranked among the world’s billionaires by Forbes, Ciner appeared on the magazine’s 2021 list with an estimated fortune of $1.3 billion, making him number 2,263 globally. By 2025 Forbes Turkey listed him as the country’s 35th richest individual with an estimated net worth of $950 million. He has been living in London in recent years, where his London-based companies WE Soda and Ciner Glass manage major investments, including a 2025 acquisition in the US valued at $1.4 billion.
WE Soda is the world’s largest producer of natural soda ash and operates two production facilities in Turkey and two in the United States.