BDDK official arrested as fund investigation reaches 119 detainees

Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) Application Department 3 Director Bilal Soysal was arrested in the fund investigation. Soysal, born in Sivas in 1979, graduated from Erciyes University Mathematics Department in 2002 and completed his master's degree at Istanbul University in 2019. He joined BDDK in 2006 as a banking expert assistant and later served as a banking senior expert.

On November 3, several SPK and BDDK executives were detained, including former SPK Deputy Chairman Enver Usca, former SPK Board Member Bulent Murat Haholu, former SPK Partners Finance Department Head Kursat Sait Babucbu, former SPK Market Surveillance and Audit Department Head Ercan Urkan, BDDK Application Department 4 Director Mustafa Alper Tas, and Tera Holding Administrative Affairs Director Umut Sincanli. Usca, Urkan, and Tas were arrested on bribery charges, while Sincanli was detained for membership in an organization established to commit crimes and laundering of crime proceeds.

“The total number of detainees in the investigation reached 119 as of November 8.”

Babuccu was placed under judicial control with obligations to sign and a ban on traveling abroad, while Haholu was released after giving his statement to the prosecutor's office. Mustafa Alper Tas was detained on November 7.

Former Takasbank General Manager Yunus Arinc and Bulls Investment Management Board Chairman Kemal Akkaya, previously released under judicial control, were detained again on November 7. Both are expected to give statements to the prosecutor's office after their detention procedures.

The investigation has now raised the total number of detainees to 119 as of November 8. The probe began after SPK imposed position limits on stocks outside the BIST 30 on August 28, following cross-trading that caused fund prices to rise by more than 3 per thousand in eight months in low-volume stocks.

Pusula Portfolio announced payment default on September 15 after rising investor sell requests. On September 17, SPK decided to liquidate 131 funds belonging to Pusula, Tera, and affiliated companies, affecting more than 455,000 investors. The liquidation and cash conversion timeline was later extended from three to six months on September 20.