Page 16 - TURKRptFeb20

Once officials responsible for lending decisions were fired, it cleared the way for pro-government businessmen to obtain the loans they needed, the banker said. “Ridiculous” debt restructuring demands were then quickly approved, the banker alleged.
2.7 Purge of mayors for first time extended to representative of main opposition
Turkish prosecutors have for the first time extended their purge of opposition mayors accused of having links to terrorists to a representative of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Burak Oguz, the CHP mayor of Urla district in the Aegean coastal province of Izmir, has been arrested over his alleged membership of the Gulenist network that Ankara claims orchestrated the failed coup of July 2016, a prosecutor’s office said on December 17.
Since the local elections in March, Ankara has removed 28 co-mayors of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) due to alleged links to Kurdish militants. Twenty-two co-mayors have been arrested since August and 19 remain in pre-trial detention, the HDP says. The purge regained momentum after Turkish forces invaded northeast Syria in early October to pursue Kurdish “terrorists” .
2.8 Turkey ‘must improve efforts made against money laundering and terrorism financing or risk going on FATF grey list’
Turkey must address shortcomings in tackling money laundering and terrorism financing or risk being added to a “grey list” of countries said to have inadequate financial controls, global money laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has said.
Gaps in Turkish efforts to prevent financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, were noted by the Paris-based organisation in its December 16 report.
Out of 11 areas assessed, Turkey was evaluated as needing major or fundamental improvements in nine. Ankara must now go under FATF observation for a year. If improvements are not forthcoming, the grey list beckons.
The watchdog observed that Turkey should make “fundamental improvements in measures for freezing assets linked to terrorism, terrorist organisations and financiers”.
The report pointed to a low rate of conviction for terrorism financing in Turkey, saying official data showed more than 6,000 people were prosecuted in 2017 but only 115 were convicted.
The report also called for Ankara to improve efforts to prevent “the raising, moving and using of funds for weapons of mass destruction”. Turkey was slow in following up UN Security Council resolutions relating to Iran and North Korea, it said.
Turkey should strengthen its utilisation of financial intelligence in money laundering cases and develop a national strategy for investigating and prosecuting the various types of money laundering, the report added.
16 TURKEY Country Report OUTLOOK 2020 www.intellinews.com