Turkish mafia leader accuses minister of taking bribe from Thodex CEO

Sedat Peker, the Turkish mobster who has shaken the country's politics with his revelations of alleged relations between the criminal underworld and Turkish officials, said Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu received payments from Faruk Fatih Özer, the CEO of shuttered cryptocurrency trading platform Thodex.

Özer fled Turkey in April and is wanted on fraud charges. Turkish police said he travelled to Albania. The Albanian authorities have arrested two people accused of providing him with shelter. Özer remains at large. 

Peker said he will provide details about how Soylu took a commission from Özer. He did not provide any evidence for the claims in a series of tweets on Thursday.

The Turkish mafia boss has published a series of 'tell-it-all' YouTube videos over the past month detailing alleged cooperation between underworld figures, including himself, and senior Turkish officials. Opposition politicians have called for a full investigation of the claims and for Soylu to resign. 

Soylu, along with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, denied knowing Özer personally after the media published separate photos of them meeting with the CEO. Soylu said Özer was allowed into a December 2019 gathering with young computer developers during a meet and greet session. 

Özer created Thodex in 2017. Trading volume on the platform totalled $585.5 million on its last day of operations, according to Coinmarketcap. Investors in the platform have opened legal proceedings against Özer claiming fraud, a charge that he has denied. 

In his latest YouTube video, Peker accused Soylu of paying off Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, a Turkish businessman who is also wanted on fraud charges, at a meeting in December and instructing him to leave the country ahead of a police operation.

Peker said Korkmaz, who has also been linked to a fraud scandal in the United States, was invited to the Interior Ministry by Deputy Director of Security for Organised Crime Resul Holoğlu.

 Soylu told Korkmaz that “superiors know about this”, in a possible reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Peker said.

 Soylu has yet to make a statement on the accusations.