‘Farm Bank’ case | Defendant Aydın referred to courthouse

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Taken into custody in İstanbul Airport on July 3 and held in detention since then, Mehmet Aydın, the founder of the "Çiftlik Bank" (Farm Bank) ponzi scheme, has been referred to the courthouse after four days.

Having turned himself in to the law enforcement officials in Brazil and extradited to Turkey, Aydın has been referred to Anadolu Courthouse in İstanbul as the related proceedings were completed at the İstanbul Security Directorate's Branch for Combating Financial Crimes.

All questions in the 60-page list of questions were reportedly posed to Aydın during his interrogation. While the interrogation was recessed at times, the interrogation procedure took more than 25 hours.

Among the questions asked to Aydın were also the ones about the people whom he came into contact with when he was abroad, the documents that he has brought along to Turkey and his elder brother Fatih Aydın, one of the key figures of the investigation searched with a red notice.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), after he gave his statement at the police department, Mehmet Aydın was referred to the Bayrampaşa Public Hospital, where he underwent a medical check. Afterwards, he has been taken to the courthouse in Kartal.

What happened?

Mehmet Aydın is the founder of a system publicly known as the "Farm Bank" (Çiftlik Bank) in Turkey, which promised revenue to people, but caused them to suffer huge losses. Aydın was a fugitive for over two years. He turned himself in to the law enforcement in Brazil on July 1.

Aydın was extradited to Turkey and arrived in İstanbul Airport at 10.10 pm on July 3. He was taken into custody on the plane upon the instruction of the İstanbul Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

The prosecutor's office was to keep Aydın in detention for four days. Following the proceedings at the airport, Aydın was taken to the İstanbul Security Directorate on Vatan Avenue in İstanbul's Fatih.

Upon the criminal complaints of 102 aggrieved parties, Mehmet Aydın faces up to 75 thousand 260 years in prison on a series of charges such as "establishing an organization to commit crimes", "being a member of a criminal organization", "fraud by using information systems as a means" and "laundering of asset values stemming from a crime." (TP/SD)