Prosecutors seek up to 8 years for Ferdi Karadoruk in referee case

The indictment against Ferdi Karadoruk has been completed as part of the “Referees file” investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The indictment seeks a prison sentence of between 1 year and 3 months and 8 years for Karadoruk on charges of “abuse of trust in connection with service” and violating the Law on Associations.

The investigation into Ferdi Karadoruk, who was arrested as part of the “Referees file” investigation conducted by the Illegal Betting and Sports Crimes Bureau of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, has been completed.

The indictment lists the Istanbul Branch of the Association of Active Football Referees and Observers of Türkiye as the “injured party.” It says Karadoruk’s file was separated after authorities determined that the investigation into him should be conducted independently.

Investigation topics listed in the indictment

The indictment says the investigation covered allegations that Central Referee Board Chairman Ferhat Gündoğdu and some MHK members removed referees and observers from their classifications, denied them assignments or systematically excluded them without providing objective and justified reasons.

The same section cites allegations that some referees were treated preferentially, the scoring and appointment processes were interfered with, and unlawful changes were made to the referee and observer lists prepared in 2022 and 2024. Allegations that some decisions were overturned by arbitration board rulings and that referee examination questions were given to individuals with close ties to the referees’ association were also listed among the investigation topics.

Findings in the expert report

The indictment says that some inconsistencies were found in the association’s accounts and books during an examination of its members’ financial transactions. The expert report notes that no board resolution authorizing money to be sent to Istanbul Branch Chairman Ferdi Karadoruk as an “advance” or “prepayment” was found in the association’s decision book.

The report states that no decisions or documents based on a budget approved under Article 49/a of the association’s bylaws were found concerning the amount, upper limit or payment methods of expenses incurred as part of the association’s activities.

The Türkiye Football Federation's facilities in Riva (archive)

The expert assessment says the expenses could not be linked to the association’s activities. It also notes that Karadoruk’s sole authority to conduct transactions on the association’s accounts and access its internet and mobile applications did not require prepayments or advances to be sent from the association’s account to his personal account.

The report says entries for business advances, bank fund accounts and expense accounts were recorded in the journal containing the association’s 2024 transactions in violation of accounting rules concerning the cash account. It says this made it more difficult to control and trace the transactions and to track debts and receivables.

Account transactions

According to the expert report, a total of 7,499,632 lira was withdrawn in 698 transactions from the bank accounts of the association’s Istanbul Branch between January 1, 2024, and September 4, 2026.

During the same period, the report says 686,600 lira was sent from the association’s account to Karadoruk’s personal account in 12 transactions of 30,000 lira or more; 764,304 lira in 52 transactions between 10,000 and 30,000 lira; and 176,772 lira in 40 transactions below 10,000 lira. The total of 1,627,676 lira across 104 transactions accounted for 21.70% of the money withdrawn from the association’s accounts.

The report says a total of 1,134,670 lira was sent to the association from Karadoruk’s accounts in 60 transactions. This amount included 831,000 lira returned without an explanation, 150,000 lira sent on June 12, 2025, with the description “refund of the final expenses of the canceled Hilmi Ok tournament,” and 50,000 lira sent on June 18, 2025, with the description “return of the mevlüt advance.”

The indictment says that not all of the association’s 2026 income, expenses and other transactions were recorded in its books. It seeks a prison sentence of between 1 year and 3 months and 8 years for Karadoruk on charges of “abuse of trust in connection with service” and violating the Law on Associations.