Turkish prosecutors sent letters on Tuesday to freeze all assets of Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya and her husband Ilyas Kaya. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office Bureau for Financing Terrorism and Money Laundering directed the order to relevant institutions.
Kaya previously served as family and social policies minister from 2016 to 2018. She later held the post of deputy chair of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party. She resigned from her party posts late Saturday.
Turkey’s main opposition Yeni Parti raised questions that day over the couple’s trades. The party said the pair invested 63 million lira in April and sold shares in September. According to those claims, the sales produced about 1.3 billion lira, or $26.5 million.
Kaya did not admit wrongdoing. She said she resigned to take “political responsibility” so any inquiry could proceed “independently, impartially.”
Meanwhile, officials described a wider collapse of investment funds as a Ponzi-like scheme. The Capital Markets Board said the crisis touched more than 455,000 investors in 131 funds holding about $18 billion. Authorities later placed those funds into liquidation.
The scandal erupted earlier in September when several funds failed to meet redemptions. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said those who exploited citizens’ savings would answer before the law. He added that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was closely following the investigation.
Prosecutors also froze assets of executives at firms linked to the funds and restricted transfers by some relatives. In addition, investigators sought records of money and crypto transfers sent abroad since 2024.
Kaya and her husband reportedly transferred about 2.2 billion lira to a Treasury-designated account under an effective-remorse provision of capital markets law after the allegations surfaced. The asset freeze followed that step and her resignation.
