Turkey, the site of the biggest money laundering scandal in the history of British gambling, is again the focus of a multi-million-dollar AML scandal.
Ahmed Faruk Kharsh, Founder and Chair of payments platform Papara, and 12 other suspects, not all of them directly employed by the firm, have been arrested as part of a major investigation into a US$330 million (£244.41m) money washing scam, reliable media sources in Istanbul confirmed today.
A 2019 million dollar money laundering scandal in Turkey involving an affiliate of the then-GVC Holdings, since renamed Entain, owner of a clutch of storied betting brands–among them Ladbrokes Coral, bwin PartyPoker and sportingbet–almost scuppered the UK company; an issue that was only finally resolved at the start of last year with the payment of a massive £615 million fine (US$829.67m) to British financial investigators.
Dawn Raid
Arrested in a dawn raid, Karsh now faces charges of criminal activity and money laundering. Enforcers have confiscated the equivalent of around £100 million of his assets, some US$135 million.
Founded in 2015, Papara had been using its payments system to wash dirty money and facilitate illicit iGaming in Turkey, confirmed Ali Yerlikaya, Minister of the Interior, who said the investigation was being conducted by MASAK, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, anti money laundering enforcement unit of the national Ministry of Treasury and Finance.
According to records, Papara is worth over US$2 billion (£1.48bn) and has an estimated 23 million personal users in Turkey, population 85.33 million people.
Cyber Fraud
The arrest of Karsh and seizure of his assets comes only two months after Turkish anti-money laundering authorities arrested Erkan Kork, the Chair of another local digital payments company called PayFix.
To date the latest MASAK operation has found suspicious activity in over 26,000 named Papara accounts, representing transactions valued at over Turkish Lira 12.9 billion or US$330 million.
“Illegal betting is a crime that threatens the future of not only individuals but also society,” affirmed minister Yerlikaya.
“[And] we continue our fight against illegal betting and cyber fraud with determination for the safety of our citizens.”
“I congratulate our [heroic] prosecutors, police officers and our MASAK employees.”
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