The Lost Trillion Case, also known as the Missing Trillion Case, ( tr, Kayıp Trilyon Davası) was an

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

scandal in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

involving the use of forged documents by the

Welfare Party The Welfare Party ( tr, Refah Partisi, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and Nationa ...

( tr, Refah Partisi, RP) executives to prevent the return of Treasury grants in amount of around one trillion lira, i.e. one million in today's currency following the ban of the party in 1998. Party leader and former prime minister

Necmettin Erbakan Necmettin Erbakan (29 October 1926 – 27 February 2011) was a Turkish politician, engineer, and academic who was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. He was pressured by the military to step down as prime minister and was later ba ...

as well as 68 party officials received prison sentences after a court trial, although the former's was commuted to house arrest.

Background

The Welfare Party, an Islamist political party in Turkey founded and led by Necmettin Erbakan (1926–2011), had received grants from the Treasury in accordance with the applicable laws. In June 1998, the coalition cabinet of Erbakan was forced to resign following the submission of a memorandum by the military on February 28, 1998. The same year, the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

banned the Welfare Party on the grounds that it tried to overthrow Turkey's secular system and to promote

Islamic fundamentalism Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a puritanical, revivalist, and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. Islamic fundamentalists are of the view that Muslim-majority countries should return t ...

. Erbakan was suspended from active politics for a term of five years. The bans were upheld by the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

as well. The Treasury requested the return of the financial aid worth around one trillion lira, i.e. one million in today's currency (around 477,000) from the then-closed RP. The party executives declared that the funds were spent on party activities. However, an investigation found that the amount was converted into 10 million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

and was then deposited in Yapı ve Kredi Bankası. Early in 1997, the amount was withdrawn from the bank.

Trial and conviction

In the beginning of 1999, Erbakan and 78 party members were prosecuted by the First High Penal Court of Sincan in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

. They were accused of embezzling trillions by forging 139 official party documents with the intention to hide the grants, which the Treasury ordered back. The case became known as the "Lost Trillion Case" or the "Missing Trillion Case" ( tr, Kayıp Trilyon Davası). Among the defendants were prominent politicians like Şevket Kazan, former

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

, and

Ahmet Tekdal Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

, co-founder and first leader of the party. In March 2002, Erbakan received a prison sentence of two years and four months. The court convicted 68 party officials to sentences of up to one year and two months in prison. The court's decision was approved by the

Supreme Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Virginia is the supreme court, highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and ...

Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both ...

, who was the vice chairman of the party responsible for foreign affairs, joined another Islamist party, the

Virtue Party Virtue Party ( tr, Fazilet Partisi, FP) was an Islamist political party established on 17 December 1997 in Turkey. It was found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and then banned on 22 June 2001 for violating the secularist articles of ...

( tr, Fazilet Partisi, FP), in 1998. He was re-elected into the parliament in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

. His

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians such as president, vice president, governor, lieutenant governor, member of parliament, member of legislative assembly, member of legislative council, s ...

at the time of the trial spared him from prosecution. Erbakan's imprisonment was adjourned four times as he submitted medical reports about his poor health condition. The last adjournment took place in July 2005 for six month time. After the end of the term, he applied for the re-opening of his case, which was rejected in first and second instance. In April 2006, the Supreme Court of Appeals annulled the court's decision from March 2002. In accordance with the in-the-meantime-amended law, the court reduced Erbakan's sentence to eleven months and two days in house arrest. Erbakan began to serve his sentence at his summer residence in

Altınoluk Altınoluk, formerly Papazlık, is a town and summer resort in the Edremit district of Balıkesir Province in western Turkey. It is located west of Edremit, at the northern coast of Edremit Gulf and on Mount Kazdağı hills. The ancient city ...

Edremit, Balıkesir Edremit is a city and district of Balıkesir Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. It is situated at the tip of the gulf with the same name ( Gulf of Edremit), with its town centre a few kilometres inland, and is an important centre of trade, ...

in house arrest in May 2008. Upon his application of pardoning, Abdullah Gül, at that time the

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanı), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the government of Tu ...

, pardoned Erbakan on permanent health grounds in August 2008.

Former Turkish President's testimony

had been exempted from the trial due to his parliamentary immunity. Later, as he became state president in August 2007, he could not be brought before the court as, according to the Constitution, presidents may not be tried for any allegations other than treason. The re-opened case in 2008 referred to him as a "suspect". He expressed his willingness to appear before the court. However, the case remained for him frozen until the end of his presidency term in August 2014. The criminal court in

decreed that Gül testifies for charges of falsifying official documents as the crime was committed before his presidency. Judicial experts are of the opinion that he would have been acquitted even he was tried because his responsibilities in the party were not of financial nature. As an example, RP officials Şevket Kazan,

Recai Kutan Mehmet Recai Kutan (born 1930) is a Turkish politician and the former leader of Felicity Party (SP). Biography Kutan graduated from ITU, Department of Civil Engineering in 1952. Until 1973, he worked as an engineer in various projects includi ...

Oğuzhan Asiltürk Oğuzhan Asiltürk (25 May 1935 – 1 October 2021) was a Turkish politician. He served as Minister of Industry and Technology and Minister of the Interior as well as Chairman of the Executive Board of the Felicity Party. Biography Asiltürk at ...

, the deputy chairman and even the general accountant were all acquitted in the past. Gül announced his readiness to testify in the "Lost Trillion Case" right after he handed over his post as state president in late August. In November 2014, he testified before the court with the motive of "having justice operate flawlessly and seamlessly" and "in order not to leave any doubt on any issue". On December 6, 2014, the Head Public Prosecutor of Ankara announced its conclusion in the case as

nolle prosequi , abbreviated or , is legal Latin meaning "to be unwilling to pursue".Nolle prosequi
. refe ...

("unwilling to pursue") due to missing evidence required for a public lawsuit.

References

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Today's Zaman ''Today's Zaman'' (Zaman is Turkish for 'time' or 'age') was an English-language daily newspaper based in Turkey. Established on 17 January 2007, it was the English-language edition of the Turkish daily '' Zaman.'' ''Today's Zaman'' included dom ...

, title=Former President Gül testifies to prosecutors in ‘lost trillion case’ , date=2014-11-19 , access-date=2014-11-27 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129035728/http://www.todayszaman.com/national_former-president-gul-testifies-to-prosecutors-in-lost-trillion-case_364768.html , archive-date=2014-11-29 {{cite news , url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=leaders-of-now-defunct-welfare-party-stand-trial-for-fraud-1999-02-09 , newspaper=

Hürriyet Daily News The ''Hürriyet Daily News'', formerly ''Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review'' and ''Turkish Daily News'', is the oldest current English-language daily in Turkey, founded in 1961. The paper was bought by the Doğan Media Group in 2001 and ...

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Cihan News Agency The Cihan News Agency ( tr, Cihan Haber Ajansı) was a Turkish news agency based in Istanbul. The agency, established in 1994, was part of Feza Publications, which also owned '' Zaman'' newspaper and ''Aksiyon'', a weekly news magazine. Cihan New ...

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The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

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BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

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NTVMSNBC NTV is a Turkish nationwide television news channel owned by Doğuş Media Group. It was partnered with MSNBC between May 2000 and 2014. Besides domestic and international news, the channel's programming includes documentaries, as well as progra ...

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Radikal ''Radikal'' () was a daily liberal Turkish language newspaper, published in Istanbul. From 1996 it was published by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group. Although Radikal did not endorse a particular political alignment, it was generally considered ...

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Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is one of the major Turkish newspapers, founded in 1948. , it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' has a mainstream, liberal and conservative outlook. ''Hürriyet ...

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Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

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