The trial of Seçil Erzan, who defrauded 28 people, including famous football players, with the promise of high-profit funds, continued. Bank employees were heard as witnesses at the hearing.
The trial of Seçil Erzan, who was asked for up to 252 years in prison for allegedly defrauding 28 people, including Emre Belözoğlu, Fernando Muslera, Arda Turan and Selçuk İnan, and 7 defendants continued. Defendant Seçil Erzan and Ali Yörük attended the hearing at Istanbul 41st High Criminal Court together with their lawyers. Bank employees took part in the hearing to be heard as witnesses. Senior executives of the bank, who were expected to be heard as witnesses, did not attend the hearing.
REQUEST FOR THE BANK EXECUTIVES TO BE FORCIBLY BROUGHT TO COURT
A complainant lawyer who took the floor at the hearing said, “Both the bank executives and their lawyers have submitted a petition stating that they will attend the hearing on Friday. You do not have an interim decision that the hearing will continue on Friday. Witnesses were supposed to be here with their lawyers. We request that a compulsory appearance order be issued for the witnesses who did not attend this hearing.”
SEÇİL ERZAN “WE WERE GIVING INFORMATION”
Taking the floor at the hearing, arrested defendant Seçil Erzan expressed her desire to speak about the statements of bank manager Sermin Tekin, who was heard as a witness in the previous hearing. Erzan said that Tekin could not have been unaware of the bags full of money coming out of the bank and said, “Even if the customer withdrew 50 thousand dollars, we would give information about what to do. If he was withdrawing the money for investment, we would ask for a document of this. Or we would write it on the back of the receipt.”
ERZAN: I SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED
Stating that the statement “The customer withdraws his money, gives it to the manager if he wants, or takes it himself” is a lie, Seçil Erzan said, “This is grounds for dismissal. I am not allowed to touch that money inside the bank. Taking a bag of money from a branch manager’s office and depositing it at the teller means that I will be dismissed the next day. There were many people who did this. Semih Kaya left twice with 3 suitcases of money. These were issues that should have been recognized.”
LAWYERS REACT TO WITNESSES
A security guard and a tea seller, both employees of the bank, were also heard as witnesses in the hearing. The witnesses answered “I don’t know, I didn’t see” to the questions asked by the court, which caused reactions from the lawyers. One of the defendant’s lawyers took the floor and said, “Let’s not waste time listening to the witnesses if they are going to answer like that.” Another lawyer said, “The witnesses were obviously warned before they came. They are not speaking especially. We demand that they be prosecuted for perjury.”
“HE WAS NOT AT THE BANK MOST OF THE TIME”
On the other hand, Gümüş Y., who was heard as a witness and was a teller at the bank, stated that he only saw customers when they came to him for transactions. Gümüş Y. stated that she saw arrested defendant Ali Yörük 3 times with football players and said, “I thought Mr. Ali was Fatih Terim’s lawyer. Okan Turan withdrew some money after working hours. After the money was counted, Ms. Seçil invited Mr. Ali to the room. She handed the money to Mr. Ali.” Responding to a question about Erzan’s management, Gümüş Y. said, “Ms. Seçil was not a manager related to her staff. She was not at the bank most of the time. She was often there because her mother was unwell. I know that I waited for 2 days to get a loan approved.”
SELIL ERZAN CASE ADJOURNED UNTIL FRIDAY
The case against bank manager Seçil Erzan, who allegedly defrauded 28 people, including famous football players, of millions of lira, was postponed to Friday.
