Ex-Turkish minister says 2.5 million-lira transaction was ‘brother’s debt’

Former Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan has told a parliamentary corruption commission that a large bank transaction from a businessman to his brother and then subsequently to his own account was connected to his brother’s debt from the transfer of a company.

Çağlayan testified before the commission on Dec. 4, but new details are only emerging now due to a Nov. 25 ban on Turkey’s media organizations from reporting on the commission.

About 2.5 million Turkish Liras was transferred from Azeri-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab and another businessman, Abdullah Happani, to Çağlayan’s brother, Mehmet Şenol Çağlayan, on Oct. 30, 2012. The same amount of money was transferred two days later to the former economy minister’s account.

Çağlayan said his brother had paid part of the money he owed for the transfer of his company to his brother after he became a deputy.

“I transferred my shares of the company, in which I was a partner and manager, to my brother Şenol Çağlayan after I was elected as a deputy. With this payment my brother paid a part of the money he owed me from the company transfer. All of these actions were done through official channels, through banks,” said Çağlayan. “All of these are indicated in details in our declaration of property.”

Answering questions about the money transaction from Zarrab to his brother’s account and his brother’s relationship with Zarrab, Çağlayan said what was being done was a “coup, a pre-regulated, fictionalized scenario.”

Asked about allegations that his son Kaan Çağlayan received bribes worth 2 million euros, $2 million and 1.5 million Turkish Liras, in a number of bags, from Zarrab’s couriers, and that the money was identified in an...