Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said on Saturday evening, 14 November, that about 161 billion lira has been paid so far to investors in the Turkish investment funds placed under liquidation, and that none of the money has come from the state budget. Speaking in an interview with state broadcaster TRT, Yılmaz said that in all the interim payments to date, not a single lira had been drawn from the budget or the Treasury, Habertürk, Haber7, Başka Gazete, Haberler.com and Velev reported.
Yılmaz said the problems in the sector became visible after the Capital Markets Board (SPK), Türkiye’s markets regulator, published a new fund guideline on 28 August, and that 131 funds belonging to seven companies were placed under liquidation, according to Habertürk, Haber7 and Başka Gazete. The Fund Coordination Board he chairs has now held its tenth meeting, the reports said.
Who has been paid
As of Friday, 444,987 investors had received interim payments, and 371,021 of them had got back the whole of their net investment or portfolio value, Yılmaz said, as reported by Haber7, Başka Gazete and Haberler.com. He said 10,771 investors had not yet received any payment. According to Başka Gazete and Haberler.com, he listed among them people whose net investment was zero, investors in funds that had not yet reached the payment stage, and people judged to have made excessive gains.
Of the 97 funds in ordinary liquidation, 94 have completed all payments, and the remaining three are closed funds with a small number of investors, Yılmaz said, according to Haber7, Başka Gazete and Haberler.com. Interim payments are continuing for funds linked to Tera, Pusula and Atlas, the three companies in extraordinary liquidation. The target is interim payments of up to 1 million lira, as set out in the law, and these will be offset against final amounts when liquidation is completed, the same outlets reported.
Where the money comes from
Yılmaz said payments are financed from the funds’ own remaining assets, voluntary repayments by people who made unjust gains, and assets seized in the judicial proceedings. Voluntary repayments have reached 33.4 billion lira and the figure may rise as new collections come in, Haber7, Başka Gazete and Haberler.com reported. Each fund has its own account at the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) giving 131 fund accounts plus one general account, according to Habertürk and Haberler.com.
Yılmaz also said the State Supervisory Board (DDK) has been tasked with examining the institutions involved, and that investigations are being opened into public officials found to bear responsibility, Habertürk and Başka Gazete reported. In the judicial process, 123 people have been arrested, 279 have been placed under judicial control, the bank accounts of 124 individuals and companies have been frozen and 285 seizure orders have been carried out, Haber7 and Velev reported.
Sources
- Cumhurbaşkanı Yardımcısı Yılmaz, fon ödemeleri ve soruşturmadaki son durumu anlattı (Habertürk)
- Cevdet Yılmaz’dan fon soruşturmasıyla ilgili açıklama: Hazineden tek kuruş ödenmedi (Haber7 / TRT Haber)
- Cevdet Yılmaz: Fon ödemeleri için bütçeden tek bir lira kullanılmadı (Başka Gazete)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Yardımcısı Yılmaz fon soruşturmasındaki son rakamları açıkladı: 33,4 milyar TL geri alındı, 161 milyar TL ödeme yapıldı (Haberler.com)
- Cevdet Yılmaz: Fon tasfiyesinde devlet bütçesinden bir lira kullanılmadı (Velev)
Photo: Derrick Brutel / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
