Journalist Bahadır Özgür, a columnist and television host at Halk TV, has been detained on suspicion of violating the confidentiality of an investigation into an investment fund scandal in Turkey.
Bengü Şap-Babaeker, editor-in-chief of Halk TV's web portal, announced the detention on social media. Police detained Özgür at his home and took him to the İstanbul Security Directorate according to Evrensel newspaper.
The detention follows an Oct 13 report by Özgür about asset freezes imposed in connection with the fund investigation.
In the article, titled "Another 'inadvertent inclusion' on the fund fraud list!", Özgür reported that prosecutors had sent relevant institutions a list of 141 people subject to asset freezes. The list included former minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya and her husband, İlyas Kaya.
According to Özgür, the prosecutor's office sent another letter on Oct 13 stating that 29 people had been included on the list "inadvertently." Among those named were Enver Çevik and Kemal Akkaya.
Probe into investment fund scandal reveals 214 people and firms made over 3.7 billion dollars in profits
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued a statement the same day, saying it had not ordered any new asset freezes.
Prosecutors said information about certain restrictions that had previously been lifted had mistakenly not reached the relevant institutions. The office said it had corrected the error through a new letter and that asset freezes remained in place for 109 people.
Journalists targeted over commentary on the fund crisis
Özgür's detention follows legal action against other journalists over their reporting on the fund crisis.
Four journalists have been placed in pretrial detention or under house arrest in connection with the probe.
Journalist Şaban Sevinç and Sözcü editor Mustafa Balcı were placed in pretrial detention on Oct 9 on charges of "publicly disseminating misleading information."
Journalists İsmail Saymaz and Murat Ağırel were placed under house arrest on the same charges.
Authorities have also blocked access to dozens of social media accounts, including those belonging to economists who posted about the fund scandal.
Turkey blocks 147 X accounts over posts about investment fund crisis
Background
The crisis began on Sep 16, when investment funds holding large positions in stocks with relatively few shares available for trading struggled to meet investors' redemption requests.
The Capital Markets Board (SPK) subsequently suspended trading through the Turkish Electronic Fund Trading Platform (TEFAS) for funds managed by seven portfolio management companies. It also ordered the liquidation of 131 funds.
The SPK said funds managed by some portfolio companies had contributed to stock price movements that could not be explained by the companies' economic circumstances or financial performance.
The regulator had introduced stricter rules on Aug 28 covering portfolio concentration, related-party transactions, valuation methods and hedge fund operations.
Under Article 107 of Turkey's Capital Markets Law, transactions intended to create false or misleading impressions about the price, price movements, supply or demand of capital market instruments can constitute market fraud.
The crisis has led authorities to order the liquidation of investment funds with a combined volume of approximately 18.3 billion US dollars.
Turkey’s investment fund crisis in 10 questions: Phantom returns and a market meltdown
(VK)