Turkish ministers spared corruption trial
January 21, 2015
The Turkish parliament voted on Wednesday against sending the former ministers to trail in front of Turkey's Supreme Council court. Lawmakers in the 550-member parliament voted on each minister individually.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has a clear majority in parliament and few expected to see the ministers' cases sent to trial. However, several members of the party broke ranks in the secret ballot and voted in favor of a trial.
All four ministers resigned in December 2013 in light of the corruption allegations but denied any wrongdoing. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who was prime minister when the scandal broke - responded with a major cabinet reshuffle.
Erdogan claimed the allegations against his former ministers stemmed from a coup plot orchestrated by his rivals, including US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen's supporters hold posts with the police and judiciary, and Ergodan has made efforts to rid these departments of Gulen's allies.
Gulen denied involvement in sparking the investigation, which saw dozens of people arrested including family members of the ministers and other public officials.
The suspects were accused of accepting and facilitating bribes for some projects, getting construction permits for protected areas in exchange for money, gold smuggling and money laundering.
mz/sms (Reuters, AFP, dpa)