IslamicFinance.de

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for 78 senior executives of Bank Asya, which was confiscated by the Turkish government. Bank Asya was associated with the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 due to its links to the Gülen movement. Forty-seven of the 78 bank executives have been detained so far on suspicion of membership in an armed terrorist organization and financing a terrorist organization.
Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement. According to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency, 154,694 individuals have been detained and 50,136 have been jailed due to alleged Gülen links.

77 academics from the Abant Izzet Baysal University (AIBU) face between 7.5 years and 15 years in jail on accusation of membership to a terrorist organization. 75 academics are sentenced to 15 years in prison, while the remaining two to 22 years. The prosecutor listed among evidence for terror charge the academics’ previous transactions within Bank Asya. The Turkish government closed down the Islamic lender as part of its crackdown against the Gulen movement. The government also pinned the blame for July 15 on the movement. The accused academics have withdrawn TL 2 million from other banks to deposit into Bank Asya since late 2013 when the bank was struggling. The prosecutor underscored that some academics transferred money from spouses’ accounts to another account in Bank Asya so that they could benefit from state insurance in case the bank faces closure.