RTUK Member Zahid AKMAN Detained in Deniz Feneri Fraud Case
Zahit AkmanZahit Akman, former head and current member of Turkey’s media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), was detained early Wednesday as part of an investigation into fraud concerning the German-based Turkish charity Deniz Feneri (Lighthouse). Akman is reportedly being questioned by police along with other detainees, who include Kanal 7 officials İsmail Karahan, Mustafa Çelik, Zekeriya Karaman and Erdoğan Kara.
The Deniz Feneri administration is being accused of having funneled money collected for charity from pious workers in Germany into various companies and businesses in Turkey. In September 2008, a German court convicted three Turkish men of funneling $26 million in charitable contributions raised by Deniz Feneri to conservative companies in Turkey.
The Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals received copies of the proceedings of the Deniz Feneri trial in Germany to investigate possible links between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the charity organization in November 2008. On June 2009, the Ankara 5th Criminal Court of Peace ordered a preliminary injunction on the property and assets of 18 people who were implicated in the case, including Akman. The investigation is currently being carried out by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
06 July 2011
SOURCE: TODAYSZAMAN.COM
