The investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into the critical digital infrastructure used by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) between 2012 and 2018 is continuing. The investigation is examining findings that individuals and companies linked to FETÖ/PDY’s clandestine structure were influential in MASAK’s software development and maintenance processes.
Six suspects whose procedures at the police station had been completed were brought to the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan after undergoing medical checks. Following their statements to prosecutors, Eda Aydoğan, Güner Eke, İnönü Akgün Alp and Zehra Yılmaz were referred to the criminal judgeship of peace with a request for detention, while Zeki Özcan and Mehmet Yazıcı were referred with a request for judicial control.
The companies’ connection to the investigation
The prosecutors’ referral submission included findings concerning AGMLAB AŞ and MRD AŞ, which were placed under trusteeship, as part of an investigation into the offense of “obtaining state information that must remain confidential for the purpose of political espionage.” The submission said that the Integrated Financial Intelligence System (EMİS), used by MASAK between 2012 and 2018, had been developed by AGMLAB AŞ.
According to the submission, after the maintenance and support contract for 2011-2012 expired, MASAK decided to hold a tender for the 2012 maintenance, operation support and service procurement of its information systems software. It said the tender was awarded directly to AGMLAB AŞ after June 20, 2012.
The referral submission described AGMLAB AŞ, MRD AŞ and Barış Ata AŞ as companies connected through ownership and management relationships, particularly since 2010. It said Barış Ata AŞ, which operated in the education sector, was shut down under Decree-Law No. 667, published on July 23, 2016.
EMİS and PEP queries
MASAK carried out the duties assigned to it by law through EMİS, while queries concerning individuals and institutions on the Politically Exposed Persons List were subject to a special procedure. The PEP system was put into operation on August 4, 2015, with the approval of then-MASAK Chairman İbrahim Hakkı Polat, and was deactivated on September 2, 2016, with the approval of then-MASAK Chairman Osman Dereli because of update problems.
The submission said the system’s deactivation was not communicated to personnel within the institution and that queries concerning politically exposed persons and their relatives intensified between September 2, 2016, and December 31, 2018. It said the PEP system was updated on December 31, 2018.
The investigation file said that some MASAK personnel queried President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his relatives and some ministers in EMİS using different parameters. The submission said that, despite the assessment that these queries resulted from bulk searches, a report by the State Supervisory Council found that Erdoğan had also been queried individually using his identity and tax identification numbers.
The referral submission also noted that decisions of non-prosecution had been issued in investigations conducted by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2019 and 2020 concerning the same matters.
Charges against the suspects
The referral submission said it was assessed that the companies had been established to infiltrate the software of strategic institutions and gain access to sensitive state data. It alleged that some of the companies’ partners had served in FETÖ/PDY’s clandestine structure and that some individuals were responsible for the organization’s information technology or gendarmerie structures.
The file alleged that the organization was financed through tenders obtained from public institutions via the companies and that engineers and software developers were assigned to those institutions. It also alleged that some suspects failed to record log entries and traces in order to prevent the detection of activity in the systems’ databases.
Prosecutors assessed that Eda Aydoğan, Güner Eke, İnönü Akgün Alp and Zehra Yılmaz had obtained strategic information or confidential state information and documents for espionage purposes and transferred them to the organization under the guise of developing or establishing public institutions’ software and systems. The suspects were charged with disrupting an information system, destroying or altering data, and obtaining state information that must remain confidential for the purpose of political or military espionage.
Statements from former MASAK chairmen
Mürsel Ali Kaplan, İbrahim Hakkı Polat and Osman Dereli, who served as MASAK chairmen between 2012 and 2018, are also expected to give statements as part of the investigation.
