Hakan Ateş and Hatice Oğlu, head of Denizbank Bornova branch. Regarding the charges of “qualified fraud” and “embezzlement” against him, he said, “In our investigation so far, we have not found any records of account transfers in the bank. Whether it is a bank transaction or not.” Our Supervisory Committee is investigating this together with the Prosecutor’s Office. “I am sure that within a few days we will have a clear result,” he said.
Hatice O, head of Bornova’s branch office, said this during a town hall with journalists in Hamburg. Answering questions about the “qualified fraud” and “embezzlement” charges against him, Ateş reminded that more than 90 percent of the employees of Talyş Bank, which he acquired in 2002, continue to work there, and that Hatice O is also an employee of Talyş Bank.
Ateş said he learned that Hatice O had said that “she and her mother were in debt due to health problems”, adding:
“Based on our investigation so far, the bank still has no record of the debit receipt. We are trying to understand what happened. We have notified the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Financial Police. There is also an investigation into the loan sharks. We carried out the same review process in the previous incident.
When this case first broke (the Cecil Elzan case), we felt that this was a pyramid scheme, because after the first 2-3 hours of investigation, we found no records on the cameras or debits. Receipt records regarding the money given by the complainant. Our detailed investigation after that confirmed us, both the BRSA, the Prosecutor’s Office and the experts. In this case, we are under investigation, but is it still a case of fraud or embezzlement? We cannot evaluate it. However, we can say that the figures and claims reflected on social media are completely imaginary. There is a big difference between the figures communicated to us by our inspection committee and the figures in the news in question. Again, we do not see any connection to the company officials named, and this is also understood to be fabricated. I think the investigation will be completed by the beginning of next week.
Ateş explained that cases of embezzlement and fraud occur all over the world, and banks pay millions of dollars in premiums to take out insurance to insure against such losses.
“Our inspectors found it.”
Hakan Ateş said inspections at branches may occur once a year, and at some branches once every two years, and that such incidents have occurred at other banks as well. “We have become a bit of a scapegoat,” Ateş said. “Similar transactions that have happened at many banks are not covered at all in the press, but what’s interesting is that even the smallest developments concerning our company are featured on social media,” he said.
Ateş said the branch manager does not receive money from his bank account anywhere in the world and does not have the authority to do so. “Since the last incident, bank audits have been tightened, and as a result, a series of phenomena that could occur during the following period have been detected,” Ateş said. “There is something, but we do not know exactly what it is yet. We have notified the prosecutor’s office and are investigating. “We have been informed that the branch manager is currently hospitalized,” he said.
Criminal complaints filed by business associates who became aware of the fraud
Hatice Ö., head of Denizbank’s Bornova branch, is alleged to have collected around 200 million lira from three managers of the Karşiyaka sports club and two businessmen by investing them in a fund and buying gold with the promise of high profits, but it is alleged that she did not keep the money for herself. When money was collected in a fund and did not buy gold, the money was transferred to a third party.
Hatice Og would occasionally send as much money as needed to those who had collected the money, but after some time, when people realized they had been deceived and complained, Hatice Og would collect the funds again. A warrant for his arrest was issued against him.
