Germany’s Financial Police reportedly raided Frankfurt based Ziraat Bank AG three weeks ago, on suspicion of making irregularities in low interest loans over Germany to some firms in Turkey, Avrupa Postası online news portal reported on Saturday. It is reported that the German Financial Supervisory Agency (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BAFFIN) and the Financial Police involved in raiding central branch of Ziraat Bank International.
While Ziraat Bank International AG has denied the allegations with a written statement on its website, it was also claimed that the German Financial Supervisory Authority confiscated the bank’s computers.
It was argued that the raid was subjected to a money laundering investigation allegedly related to the new banking system CORE. The money laundering claim is based on the transfer of €10 million of the Talha and İsa Görgülü brothers, the owner of the GTI Travel Company, which was bankrupt in Germany, one day before the beginning of the year.
Ziraat Bank was founded in Germany in 1964 and in 1988 it was granted full banking permission. The bank, which has €170 million in capital, employs 146 people, including other branches. The bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt is managed by Ayten Türkmen since 2013.