“On April 7, 2023, upon the first complaint received by our Bank, an investigation was initiated by our Inspection Board regarding Seçil E., the Branch Manager of Levent Büyükdere Branch, and a criminal complaint was filed with the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office on the same day. As the person in question could not be reached, a travel ban request was made to prevent Seçil E. from leaving the country and our regulatory and supervisory authority was informed.
As a result of the investigation and evaluations carried out by our Inspection Board, before Seçil E. was arrested, statements were taken from a significant portion (18 people) of the claimants.
On Monday, April 10, 2023, our preliminary investigation report was submitted to the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office and Seçil E. was taken into custody on the same night around 11:30 pm on charges of qualified fraud, and subsequently arrested.
During this process, due to the mostly inaccurate statements made by the claimants or their representatives to the press, the following statement has been decided to be made to the public:
- As of today (April 28, 2023), the investigation conducted by our Inspection Board has been concluded and the comprehensive investigation report, along with all its attachments, has been submitted to the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office.
- Simultaneously, copies of the investigation report have been submitted to relevant regulatory and supervisory organizations.
- The recordings of our Levent Büyükdere Branch, which is monitored 24/7 by 28 cameras, have been submitted to the financial police to be presented to the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office.
- Seçil E.’s computer has also been handed over to the financial police to be presented to the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office.
In addition to these matters, due to the need to inform the public accurately, the following points have emerged in response to statements containing unfounded allegations published in the media over the past few days:”
• All banks’ Inspection Boards initiate the necessary examination and take the statement of the relevant staff member in every complaint received, in accordance with the obligation arising from Article 32 of Banking Law No. 5411 and relevant legislation. In this framework, our Bank’s Inspection Board also took the statements of the relevant individuals and prepared a report. Seçil E.’s statement was taken on April 9th, 2023, Sunday, and together with the preliminary examination report, it was sent to the Prosecutor’s Office on April 10th, 2023, Monday, to prepare the relevant report and present it to the Prosecutor’s Office. Despite our guidance to clarify the issue as soon as possible in the complaints received against our Bank, many of the individuals who claim to have suffered damage have not made a prosecutor application until today. The number of applications that followed us is only three as of today (April 28th, 2023).
• Our Bank’s Levent Büyükdere Branch is monitored with over 20 cameras, as in our other branches (the relevant records have been delivered to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, as mentioned above).
• Any document produced by the bank system related to cash deliveries has not been presented to us until today. The documents, claimed to be official, are not based on banking system records and some of them are said to have been prepared by Seçil E., contain arbitrary amounts with no payment commitment and written on an agenda leaf or plain A4 paper, which have no legal basis. Many of the claimants have not submitted any documents to our Bank.
• Some claimants have handed over the money they withdrew from their accounts in our branches to a different organization mentioned by one of the complainants’ names, to participate in a fund, in person, in places such as shopping malls, restaurants, and cafes. In short, the system is entirely established by individuals outside our Bank and our branches, and is a different organization mentioned by the name of one of the complainants.
• All claimants are qualified investors who have sufficient knowledge and expertise on how banking transactions work. These individuals can closely follow our Bank’s investment products and their assets, not only through our branches but also through internet banking, mobile banking, telephone banking, and regular asset statements sent to them. They also have the opportunity to query all investment products, including any fund, through e-government or the Central Securities Depository from anywhere in the world.
• As we announced in our previous statement, banks are reputable and trustworthy institutions established by law and regularly audited within the framework of this law. We do not provide detailed and named responses to these statements, which contain unfounded allegations, in accordance with the legislation and banking ethics to which we are subject. On the other hand, news made with conscious and intentional mention of our Bank and executives, which will damage the bank’s reputation, as per Article 74 of Banking Law No. 5411, are unfounded and, “Defamation of Bank Reputation” …
Source: (BYZHA) Beyaz Haber Ajansı
