Soylu-Escobar-Peker: “5 million dollars” left over from “Marsh”

It was the drug trade that made Escobar famous around the world. His fortune was said to have totaled $30 billion when he died. The drug network he created was swept across the world. Escobar, who declared war on the Colombian government and carried out bombings, was said to be responsible for the deaths of at least 4,000 people.

With the money he earned from the drug trade, Escobar gained the support of the people by supporting the poor and building hospitals and housing. So much so that he was elected to the Colombian Assembly as the candidate of the Colombian Liberal Party with the votes he received from the people in 1982. Historians say that the most effective way for drug lords like Escobar to build a large network was to pay top bureaucrats. As a matter of fact, Escobar had bribed thousands of people, including members of the security forces and the judiciary, for years. And the saying “Everyone has a price, the important thing is to find out what it is” was also attributed to Escobar. Therefore, Escobar was shown as the drug lord with the deepest relationships in history.

“BIGGEST OPERATION IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC”

Now let’s rewind the calendar pages and go to June 30, 2020. Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced the launch of “Marsh”, one of the biggest operations in the history of the Republic.

In his statement, Soylu said, “Our friends carried out one of the important operations of the Republic and our recent history, which has been followed for about a year. The name of this operation is Swamp. The feature of this operation is to fight drugs and drug-related crime revenues . “

74 people , including drug lords Nejat Daş and Çetin Gören, were detained. It was stated that the operation was also linked to the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Chile, Ecuador and Brazil. 21 million TL worth of foreign currency and luxury cars were seized. Later, the cars seized in the operation were exhibited in the garden of the Istanbul Police Department. The size of the operation was talked about in the media for days. However, after a while, information could not be obtained from Swamp.

So what happened next: A year of silence.

The one who broke this silence was Sedat Peker, against whom an investigation was launched on the allegation that he was the manager of an organized crime organization.

“5 MILLION DOLLARS” ALLEGED ABOUT SOYLU’S SON

Posting a video on his social media accounts, Peker first claimed that Erkam Yıldırım, son of former prime minister Binali Yıldırım, joined the drug network through Venezuela. Then he talked about the Swamp operation and pointed to Süleyman Soylu. 

There was a name Peker mentioned in his video. That name was Nevzat Kaya , the owner of Yeniköy Motors, which includes luxury vehicles . Kaya had another company called D&D Motor with a capital of 50 million liras . Kaya was selling luxury vehicles to people including famous names. He was also close to many celebrities. It turned out that the luxury cars seized during the swamp operation and displayed in the garden of the Istanbul Police Department belonged to Kaya’s companies. And Nevzat Kaya was arrested on July 6, 2020. However, whatever happened, the prosecution objected and he was released 4 days later.

Almost a year has passed and Sedat Peker talked about Nevzat Kaya and the Swamp operation. Peker claimed that Nevzat Kaya also used the special plate belonging to the Soylu family. Peker further claimed that Engin Soylu, who works as an insurance company, reached Nevzat Kaya before the Swamp operation, said “there will be an operation” , and that they canceled the special license plate. 

There was more. It was alleged that Soylu’s son, Engin Soylu, made an offer to Nevzat Kaya to remove his name from the Swamp operation file for $5 million . And in this process, Nevzat Kaya was released with the objection of the prosecutor’s office after his 4-day detention.

AFTER 1 YEAR, “SWMP” COME TO THE AGENDA: THE CLAIM IS OUT

Turkey has started to talk about the Swamp, which is called the biggest operation in the history of the Republic. Soylu also appeared on TRT screens after Peker’s allegations and showed the photo of Peker and Çetin Gören, who had been arrested in the operason.

Two months after the Peker-Soylu skirmish, the indictment of the Swamp operation came out. Nejat Daş and Çetin Gönen were sentenced to 360 to 840 years in prison for “laundering property values ​​resulting from crime” and up to 12 years in prison for “establishing an organization to commit crimes”. 

The indictment consisted of 399 pages and was signed by Ankara Deputy Chief Prosecutor Alparslan Tufan. In the indictment, state officials, members of the police and judiciary involved in the drug network were mentioned. It was stated that the members of the police on duty received the drug money from the border, and that the prosecutor and the governor, who were involved in the business, were investigating.

HOW MONEY LAUNCHED IS EXPLAINED

The name of Nevzat Kaya, pointed out by Peker, was mentioned 7 times in the indictment. It was stated that Kaya sold a luxury vehicle to one of the suspects, Cemal Deniz Şahan, and received the payment. Hundreds of millions of Euros were mentioned in the purchase and sale of vehicles. In his statement on the subject, Şahan said that he met Nevzat Kaya through drug lord Nejat Daş. On the other hand, it was reported that Perry James Young, from Nevzat Kaya’s company called D&D Motor, bought the vehicle worth hundreds of million Euros with the money he gave by hand. In the MASAK report on the subject, it was stated that the money used in the purchase of luxury vehicles came from drugs, and the money flow was made manually, not through the bank .

In other words, Nevzat Kaya and his company were used in drug money laundering. And this process happened more than once. On the other hand, it was stated in the indictment that Kaya’s company, D&D Motor, was one of 18 companies used in money laundering . It was stated that it was doubtful that the company made purchases with suspicious names and that the notifications of the said purchase and sale transactions were made incompletely.

DECISION ABOUT THE NAME PEKER BRINGS TO THE AGENDA

In other words, Nevzat Kaya and his company, which Peker pointed out and allegedly related to Soylu, were among the important suspects in the indictment.

However, it was decided not to prosecute for Nejat Daş and Çetin Gönen, who were asked to be imprisoned for hundreds of years, and Nevzat Kaya, who was said to have made suspicious shopping.

In other words, the file of Nevzat Kaya, the owner of D&D Motor, who is said to be in the money laundering network, which is mentioned for pages in the indictment, has been closed. What remained of “Swamp” is Peker’s claim that Soylu’s son closed Kaya’s case for 5 million dollars, and the quote attributed to Escobar “Everyone has a price, the important thing is to find out what it is” .