Turkey's former minister Fatma Kaya sent to jail by court in investment fund scandal case
A court in Istanbul has ordered former Turkish family minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya arrested and sent to prison as part of the investigation into an investment fund scandal worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The state news agency Anadolu reported the information on Friday.
According to Anadolu's report, the court ordered Kaya held in prison until the end of her trial on charges of violating capital markets law and being a member of an organisation formed to commit crimes.
Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya served as Turkey's family minister from 2016 to 2018. Most recently she was a deputy chair of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
She stepped down from her party post on September 26 after the main opposition Yeni Party accused her of profiting hugely from the investment scandal.
An opposition lawmaker alleged that Kaya and her husband earned millions of dollars by buying and selling certain investment-related shares.
According to the allegation, they sold those shares before the scandal became public. The affair has raised questions over insider trading in the stock market.
Turkey has been struggling to contain the fallout since the investment fund scandal became public in mid-September. Around five hundred thousand investors are alleged to have had their savings harmed in the affair.
Government prosecutors are examining whether there was widespread manipulation of the stock market.
On Tuesday, Turkey's justice minister Akin Gurlek said 112 people had been sent to prison to be held until the end of their trials in connection with the case. The court order sending Kaya to prison is part of that same investigation.
