“Do they sell scarves in August?” Özgür Özel rhetorically asked during a speech on Tuesday.
The leader of the main opposition New Party (YP) was accused by the son of a former lawmaker of taking bribes. Emir Sarıgül, whose father Mustafa recently parted ways with the YP after the exposure of a corruption and sex scandal, told investigators that the lawmaker paid bribes to Özel when the latter was chair of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), including one instance when he hid the cash among scarves his son purchased in August.
“Özel has nothing to do with money,” the YP leader, who often refers to himself in third person, told the parliamentary group meeting of his party in Ankara on Tuesday.
He said those who witnessed such an act of bribery should come forward with tangible evidence other than the statement of Emir Sarıgül.
Emir Sarıgül has claimed that his father bribed Özel to secure his position. He said Mustafa Sarıgül had handed Özel a total of $350,000 in cash concealed among gift packages.
The younger Sarıgül was one of 24 suspects detained last month as part of an investigation into the Sarıgül family over allegations of money laundering and unexplained wealth. He recently gave an additional statement to prosecutors, detailing the hundreds of thousands of dollars allegedly handed directly to Özel.
“I know that during the establishment of the New Party, $250,000 was left inside a vehicle belonging to Özgür Özel to cover the interior furnishing of the party’s headquarters. The money was handed over outside a restaurant in Ümitköy, Ankara. My father and Özgür Özel had dinner that day with a group of six or seven members of Parliament. As they left the restaurant, my father personally placed the $250,000 in the back of Özgür Özel’s vehicle. He told me this himself.
“He also told me that Özel had been given another $100,000 in cash last month. At the time, my father told me that Özgür Özel would be coming to his house in Ankara for dinner. He asked me to buy two scarves from a store. I purchased them and handed them to my father. He then placed $100,000 inside the scarf package at his house in Istanbul. The scarves were placed alongside the money. We then prepared the package as a gift. He took the package and drove to Istanbul Airport in his own vehicle. He flew to Ankara, first stopping by Parliament before going to his house in Ümitköy. Özel came over for dinner that evening, and the money was handed to him in person. My father told me about it the following day,” he said.
Özel's name has been repeatedly linked to bribery allegations dating back to his tenure as head of the CHP. Figures close to Özel already face charges of bribing delegates to secure their votes for him in the party's 2023 internal election, which brought him to power. Muhittin Böcek, the former mayor of Antalya who was arrested on corruption charges, has also claimed that he repeatedly delivered cash to Özel in secret to secure his nomination as the CHP's candidate in the 2024 municipal elections.
