Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) spokesperson Bülent Tezcan on Friday released offshore banking documents to the public for transactions conducted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s close circle with an offshore company, CNN Turk reported.
Tezcan added that the original documents would be handed over to the prosecutor’s office.
CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said on Nov. 28 that Erdoğan’s brother-in-law, brother, son, son’s father-in-law and his former executive assistant sent about $15 million to an offshore company called Bellway Limited on the Isle of Man between December 2011 and January 2012.
Upon reactions from Erdoğan and the government, Kılıçdaroğlu on Thursday said he has more documents proving that Erdoğan’s close circle conducted multi-million dollar transactions with an offshore company.
“I have other documents. In the following days this will be a subject of discussion,” Kılıçdaroğlu.
Erdoğan has denied the accusations, saying they showed money received rather than sent because they “sold their existing companies.”
“Money was not sent there,” he said, accusing Kılıçdaroğlu of “lying” and calling on him to “hand the documents over to the prosecutor’s office if necessary.”
Responding to Erdoğan, Kılıçdaroğlu said that if there was money received, “it is a far more serious situation.”
“If money is going abroad from Turkey, it is not ethical or moral. But if there is money received it is far more serious. It would mean [there is] either money laundering or tax avoidance going on. This would result in a worse situation. If there is money laundering, it would be the subject of international law,” he said.
Erdoğan denied Kılıçdaroğlu’s accusations and claimed on Wednesday that “there isn’t a single penny that has gone abroad. What this person [Kılıçdaroğlu] says is a lie.” Erdoğan has also called on the CHP leader to give “all documents to the prosecutors and the public.”
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım also slammed Kılıçdaroğlu for revealing “fake documents,” accusing the CHP leader of “attempting to destroy the president’s reputation.”
Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) İstanbul deputy Metin Külünk said Kılıçdaroğlu had became a national security issue.
