Ankara, April 5 (IANS) A Turkish court Thursday ordered the arrest of 15 officials from the football club Gaziantepspor, including the club’s chairman, on charges of fraud.
The 15 people were among some 50 who were detained earlier this week on the orders of the Gaziantep Public Prosecutor’s Office, and 22 of them were referred to court after being interrogated by a prosecutor late Wednesday.
The Turkish football club’s chairman Ibrahim Kizil, and deputy chairman Mehmet Kizil, are among those who were arrested.
The prosecutor’s office said in a statement Monday that they had found documents that contained evidence of fraud by the Kizil Holding Company and Gaziantepspor.
The investigation, started in October of 2011, mostly focused on the two institutions’ activities in the last five years.
The Gaziantep Public Prosecutor’s Office has denied initial speculation that the operation was related to a match-fixing scandal that plunged Turkish football into chaos last summer.
