An İstanbul court on Monday jailed former deputy agriculture and forestry minister Mustafa Aksu pending trial as part of an investigation into an investment fund scandal in Turkey, the Sözcü daily reported on Tuesday.
His assets and those belonging to his wife were also seized.
Aksu served as deputy minister from 2018 to 2021 and in the past held posts in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which he joined in 2003.
Aksu previously told Cumhuriyet columnist Barış Terkoğlu that he had invested about 100 million lira ($2 million) in a fund managed by Tera Portfolio Management on September 10.
He said he could not withdraw the money and considered himself a victim of the crisis.
“The issue is not 100 million, but being deceived,” he said.
Aksu told the court that he invested in shares on his own, generally lost money and did not trade on anyone else’s instructions, the BirGün daily reported.
The reports did not specify the offenses Aksu is suspected of committing.
The crisis began in September after suspected manipulation of shares with limited trading activity triggered losses and withdrawal requests that some investment funds could not meet.
The Capital Markets Board (SPK), Turkey’s securities regulator, ordered the liquidation of 131 funds managed by seven companies on September 17, requiring their assets to be sold to repay investors.
Those funds had 455,758 individual investors, a count that does not represent the number still awaiting repayment.
Erdoğan on Monday announced that repayments of up to 1 million lira ($20,000) would begin this month once parliament passes legislation governing the liquidation process.
The advances would be deducted from final settlements and financed through fund assets and recovered money rather than state funding.
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