The head of the Istanbul Stock Exchange was detained in a fraud case

General Director of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (Borsa Istanbul) Korkmaz Enes Ergun was detained as part of an investigation into alleged violations on the stock market. This was reported on October 31 by the Anadolu agency with reference to the Istanbul prosecutor's office.

According to the supervisory authority, Ergun is suspected of "participating in an organization created for the purpose of committing crimes," as well as bribery. He has been working on the exchange since the beginning of his professional career and has been its head since March 2021.

In September, the Turkish stock market experienced a crisis: quotes plummeted, and trading had to be suspended due to problems with securities of several investment funds.

The investigation began after these events and affected hundreds of people. According to the Turkish Ministry of Justice, by October 21, proceedings had been conducted against more than 400 defendants, and by October 28, the number of those arrested reached 120. In addition, the authorities froze bank accounts and seized assets of 351 individuals and 102 legal entities.

On September 17, the Turkish Capital Markets Council decided to liquidate 131 investment funds of seven management companies, in which there were 455 thousand investors. The government has developed a special mechanism for payments to clients of such funds, but there are no plans to allocate budget funds for compensation.

On September 1, a Turkish court sentenced former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu to two years and one month in prison. A "political ban" has been imposed on Imamoglu. Since the term of imprisonment exceeds two years, the decision of the Court of Appeal will be crucial.