Turkey’s former interior minister received $20 million in bribes from a criminal who ran a large fraud operation, according to recordings released by an investigative journalist featuring a former insider.
Süleyman Soylu, the former interior minister, is accused of accepting $20 million in bribes to safeguard the interests of Ahmed Nazari, an Iranian accused of running a large-scale fake investment scam targeting European citizens, and Halil Falyalı, a slain casino boss known for his illegal gambling and drug trafficking operations.
The allegations were brought to light through a series of audio recordings released by journalist Cevheri Güven that feature Cemil Önal, the financial manager of the deceased casino boss, divulging details of the bribery and protection racket.
According to Önal, the bribe facilitated the granting of Turkish citizenship to Nazari, who is wanted across the European Union and has a Red Notice issued for him, and ensured that both Nazari and the Falyalı family would remain untouched by police investigations.
Önal’s revelations describe a covert operation, managed through intermediaries, to ensure that any police action would not implicate or affect the operations of Falyalı and Nazari.
Önal’s account detailed how the bribe was paid through a convoluted process involving Sadık Soylu, acting as an intermediary, to ensure that any criminal investigations would not lead back to Falyalı or Nazari. This arrangement was purportedly in place to prevent their names from appearing in any police records or media reports, thereby maintaining their operational security and ongoing criminal enterprises.
Furthermore, Önal shed light on the extensive criminal network operated by Falyalı and Nazari, including crimes such as avoiding US sanctions on Iran and laundering Tehran’s illicit oil revenues through Dubai. He also accused them of providing personal data to foreign entities, hinting at a vast web of illegal activities that extended beyond Turkey’s borders.
Önal also touches on the protective measures allegedly provided by Soylu to other individuals connected to Falyalı.
Nazari is currently imprisoned in Dubai over his alleged orchestration of an assassination on mob boss Sedat Peker.
Peker, the head of one of Turkey’s most powerful mafia groups and once a staunch supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who lives in exile in the UAE, sent shockwaves across the country in the summer of 2021 through scandalous revelations on social media about state-mafia relations, drug trafficking and murders implicating former and current state officials and their family members.
Önal previously claimed that the former vice president of Turkey received $50 million in bribes from the Falyalı group to prevent the government from confiscating their assets in the country.
Güven is an investigative journalist in exile whose videos on YouTube in which he talks about the Turkish government’s corruption and shady relations attract hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Güven started posting videos containing audio recordings of Önal’s phone calls from a Dutch prison after he was arrested in the Netherlands in connection with the murder of Falyalı and his driver.
Halil Falyalı, who owned several casinos and hotels in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), a self-proclaimed state on the Turkish side of Cyprus, died in an attack that took place in front of his house in Kyrenia in February 2022. The attack involved a shower of gunfire on Falyalı’s vehicle. Falyalı sustained critical injuries from 16 bullets and later died in a hospital, while his driver, Murat Demirtaş, died at the scene.
Former minister Soylu was elected to parliament in the May general election as a Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker and enjoys parliamentary immunity.
During Soylu’s tenure, Turkey faced allegations of involvement in international drug trafficking, primarily driven by mob boss Peker. In his videos in 2021, Peker accused Soylu and other high-ranking officials of protecting and facilitating cocaine trafficking networks.
Soylu was appointed as the interior minister shortly after a failed coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016. He was the architect of the massive purge and arrest of thousands of non-loyalist citizens under bogus terrorism or coup charges.