A criminal investigation in to the wrongdoings of a charity linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) shows that the charity used donations to fund trips for U.S. Congress staff and officers, as well as for Canadian officials. After the revelation that it used unsuspecting donors' money to fund U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's campaign, the Kimse Yok Mu? charity linked to FETÖ is now being accused of paying for trips for prominent figures from the United States, Canada and Europe. A report in Akşam newspaper based on the investigation against the charity, whose name translates as "Is Nobody There?" says it acted as an important source of revenue for the terrorist group, which is blamed for the July 15 coup attempt last year.

The investigation into the money transfers of the charity controlling a cash flow of about $2 billion yearly, shows Kimse Yok Mu? offered scores of free trips for people, ranging from U.S. Congress members and their staff, officers from the US army, diplomats, Canadian judiciary members and employees of foreign think tanks, apparently in a bid to draw sympathizers to FETÖ, which evolved from a religious movement to a terrorist group.Christopher Scott and David Mark Hamilton, two officers from the U.S. Navy and the Army were named in the inquiry as those paid by Kimse Yok Mu? Congressional staffers James Speers Hall, Courtney Dawn Titus, Melissa Mary Neal and David Neil Greengrass were also among those whose trips were funded by the charity.Kimse Yok Mu? also paid for trips for Elora Newton, David Stone, Lorne Chester and Peter Wright, judges and clerks working at Canada's Ontario. Jane Stone, a member of an education council in Ontario is also named in the investigation, according to the report in the Akşam newspaper.The charity is also accused of using donations from the Turkish public to fund trips for academics and think-tank executives, including an executive at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States, academics from Harvard University. Marc Bentinck who works at RAND Europe as a senior research fellow is also among figures with trips paid for by the FETÖ-linked charity.Earlier, Habertürk newspaper reported that the charity transferred donations of $5,000 and $10,000 in multiple instances for the Democrat presidential contender, Hillary Clinton, who suffered a crushing defeat to Donald Trump in the latest U.S. elections.Turkish media outlets reported that donations were part of a scheme by FETÖ to escape prosecution in the United States, where it controls a network of schools, companies and where its leader Fetullah Gülen, a retired preacher who settled in the United States in 1999, resides.The charity has long been the subject of criminal investigations in Turkey for its links to FETÖ and after the coup attempt that left 248 people dead. It was closed down, like other FETÖ-linked institutions, by a state of emergency decree.As part of an investigation by the Chief Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul, 32 suspects linked to the charity were detained on Monday in nationwide police operations across Turkey.Prosecutors also issued detention warrants for 50 other suspects with ties to Kimse Yok Mu? Operations targeted staff members who used ByLock, an encrypted instant messaging app exclusively used by FETÖ.Starting from 2014, one year after FETÖ emerged as a national threat bent on toppling the government, Kimse Yok Mu? branched out its activities in the Netherlands and other European countries.Under the name of Kimse Yok Mu? International, the so-called charity continued collecting donations amounting to millions of Turkish liras and used the money to fund the terrorist group, prosecutors say.Last year, 121 suspects were detained after an investigation of the charity and charged with membership of a terrorist group and money laundering.The terror cult accumulated significant wealth thanks to funding by supporters and some 5,000 companies in Turkey are believed to be directly linked to the group.In operations during the wake of the July 15 putsch attempt, authorities seized the assets of 60 businesspeople funding the terror cult. Other companies also face legal probes and fines while their owners and executives are being detained on charges of FETÖ membership.Once wielding significant clout in almost all institutions, from the judiciary to law enforcement through loyal infiltrators, the cult is now subject to a massive crackdown by the government in efforts to weed out the cult's followers from government and nongovernmental institutions.The terror cult is accused of gaining financial power by extorting money from businesspeople through blackmail under the guise of "himmet," the technical name used for the fundraising meetings to collect donations for educational institutions operated by the movement.Moreover, media reports claim infiltrators in state agencies helped FETÖ illegally acquire public funds and property.It also runs a global network of schools and associations on almost all continents and relies on funding from supporters for its activities.Turkey seeks the extradition of Fetullah Gülen from Washington for multiple charges, ranging from the coup attempts to masterminding sham trials, forgery, money laundering, blackmail and illegal wiretapping using infiltrators of the cult within the police, judiciary, bureaucracy and army.