Turkish prosecutors have prepared an indictment seeking a prison term of 72 to 240 years for the chief executive of private lender Denizbank for the alleged fraud of numerous football stars, according to local media reports on Tuesday.
The new indictment relates to a previously opened case on the alleged defrauding of players, including Türkiye’s Arda Turan and Uruguay’s Fernando Muslera, by a former Denizbank branch manager. Denizbank has denied any role in wrongdoing.
Anadolu Agency (AA) on Tuesday reported that Denizbank CEO Hakan Ateş and former assistant general manager Mehmet Aydoğdu, who faces similar charges, had denied the allegations against them in the indictment prepared by the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office.
Responding to the widely reported details on the indictment, Denizbank said late on Tuesday: “We have not received any information regarding the prosecutor’s investigation reflected in some press and publication outlets today.”
The bank said the disclosure of the indictment details violated the confidentiality of the case. Details of indictments are regularly released via AA.
Denizbank said last week that Aydoğdu had resigned.
“I do not accept the allegations,” CEO Ateş is quoted as saying in the indictment.
Aydoğdu was quoted as saying: “I have no connection with or knowledge of the matter.”
No arrests have been made, and no court appearances have been set in relation to the new indictment.
Under the case opened last year, prosecutors sought a 216-year prison term for Seçil Erzan, the former branch manager charged with defrauding football celebrities, including Turan, a former Barcelona midfielder, and Galatasaray goalkeeper Muslera.
According to last year’s indictment, Erzan defrauded some $44 million from 18 individuals, promising substantial returns on their investments in a “secret special fund.” There are 24 complainants in the latest indictment.
Erzan convinced them to invest in the fund in part by telling them that former Turkish national team coach Fatih Terim had also invested, according to that indictment.
She partly paid some of the returns to some of the investors, but she failed to pay any returns or principal money to most of the investors, according to the indictment.
Erzan has been jailed as the case against her continues.
Denizbank is owned by Dubai’s largest lender, the Emirates NBD, which acquired the bank from Russia’s Sberbank in 2019 for about $2.7 billion.