Testifying within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Haluk Levent, the founder of the Friends Association, made remarkable statements regarding his financial transactions, association accounts and personal financial activities.
"I used Friends' checks and promissory notes as collateral in some places," said Levent, adding, "I owed a large amount of money. You can call it irregularity, but you cannot call it corruption. I was already on my way to correct everything that appeared to be irregular by the end of this year by recording it in the Friends' books, but this was not allowed. From now on, any question you say or ask will have no meaning other than the explanations I will give below."
Stating that he has a weakness for the stock market in his statement, Levent said, "So why did these checks and promissory notes begin to be written? The result cannot be explained without the reason in the interrogation report. Everything grew one after the other. The events we experienced during the earthquake dragged me into an inextricable situation. I already have a nasty weakness for trading in the stock market. The economic costs that the first two years of the earthquake brought to me caused me to trade more in the stock market and take more risks. I always borrowed this money. Never, Dude." I did not take money from the association and play with it. If they claim such a thing, the Chief Inspectors of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should first resign, because in 2023, 2024 and 2025, all the activity reports of the Ahbap association, which our citizens helped with their hard work and the tuition of our little children, were audited and no negativity was found. These reports were reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs inspectors, not me. These reports are available in the relevant organization and the Ahbap association is on its official social media every year. "It can be seen clearly and they can open it and see it right now," he said.
Levent, who also mentioned an asset transfer to the association in his statement, stated that he wanted to transfer 20 immovable properties to the Friends Association for 80 million TL, but the process could not be completed due to disruptions in the title deed transactions. Haluk Levent claimed, "If the operation had happened after these procedures were completed, there would not have been such an investigation."
In the investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the allegation that "donations collected on behalf of the Dude Association were transferred to the accounts of the suspects", many suspects, including the founder of the association, singer Haluk Levent, were detained.
In the investigation, as a result of the MASAK reports prepared for the Friends Association employees, account activity reviews and technical and physical follow-up activities, it was determined that the suspects had high amounts of money movements that were incompatible with their financial profiles, high amounts of money transfers were made between them, they placed bets by transferring large amounts of money to their games of chance accounts and lost large amounts of money in this way, and they also carried out many chain title deed transfer transactions among themselves in a short time.
On the other hand; Another investigation was launched after Başaran Holding filed a criminal complaint against Haluk Levent, Yeliz Kaya and Esin Önder Çağlayan on June 29, alleging that assets worth $60 million were seized through unfair and fraudulent means.