Process
Prosecutor Celal Kara removed
One of the investigation prosecutors, Celal Kara, was stripped of jurisdiction in the months following the operation. His pending files were reassigned. This was the first link in the chain that brought the file's subsequent course under control.
Release of the ministers' sons
In February 2014, the ministers' sons (Barış Güler, Kaan Çağlayan, Salih Kaan Bağış) were released for trial without detention. The grounds for release were debated at length given the substance of the evidence.
Ekrem Aydiner and the KYOK order
During 2014, the file was formally closed by a KYOK order signed by Prosecutor Ekrem Aydiner. The order rests on grounds that fail to substantively address the evidence in the file — BDDK reports, bank records, wiretap transcripts, the $4.5M cash inventory, falsified export documents.
Indicators of a sham KYOK
- Multiple expert reports in the file are not cited in the order.
- None of the suspects were questioned about the documents and transfers alleged against them.
- The "insufficient evidence" reasoning contradicts the volume of evidence in the file.
U.S. case confirmation
Years later in the Hakan Atilla case at the Southern District of New York, Zarrab's testimony as a prosecution witness confirmed point-by-point most of the Dec 17 findings. See: the U.S. case.