The crime files of a Turkish “social media influencer”, Dilan Polat

Dilan Polat, who gained fame and made much money in a short time as a “social media influencer” (with 6,8 million Instagram followers) was detained in the early morning of November 1, 2023 in İstanbul. Along with Dilan Polat, her husband Engin Polat, her sister Sıla Doğu, her brother-in-law Kürşat Polat, and Ahmet Gün, all relatives were also detained, and there may be more detentions. Anadolu Agency reported that the suspects were detained by the Anti-Financial Crimes police as part of an investigation into “Prevention of Laundering Proceeds of Crime, opposition to the Tax Procedure Law and the Law on Betting and Games of Chance in Football and Other Sports Competitions” and taken to the Istanbul Security Directorate in Vatan Street.

For weeks, to be precise 33 days, Dilan Polat has been keeping not only the tabloid reporters but also judicial, security, political, and even economy reporters busy. The allegations against Dilan and her family ranged from drug trafficking through the cosmetics they imported and sold over the internet by marketing their products on social media to tax evasion and money laundering through false invoices.

The talented Dilan Polat?

In a country where journalists can be immediately detained and arrested for what they say and write (the last example being the arrest of journalist Tolga Şardan, again on November 1 because of writing corruption allegations in the judiciary on October 31) has been a subject of criticism why Dilan Polat and the members of her family gang have not been touched for weeks.
Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç rejected those criticisms and said the following:
“A ban on leaving the country and judicial control measures were issued for 12 people there. All their assets were also confiscated. Within the framework of MASAK reports, all these are being carried out rapidly by our judiciary. Do not buy the criticisms on social media that the judiciary is insensitive on this issue, do not believe them”.
These words were spoken on October 24, 8 days ago.
Two days after these words, on October 26, 15 companies belonging to Dilan and Engin Polat were searched and documents were seized.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say the remaining documents.
In an investigation in which the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance is involved, every document that may have been destroyed in the intervening period means that another relationship and irregularity is hidden from the state.

Financial Crimes and the Gray List

Apparently, at the time when the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office was finally preparing a detention warrant for Dilan Polat, the Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mehmet Şimşek was saying the following in front of the Parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission:
“A FATF meeting was held on October 27th. We were told that one issue remained for our country to be removed from the gray list. We will put it on the agenda of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. There is no obstacle left for our country to leave the gray list.”
FATF is the “Financial Anti-Money Laundering Working Group” established in 1989 by the G7 countries within the OECD, of which Turkey is a part.
The Gray List, on the other hand, is a list prepared by the FATF, of which Turkey became a member in 1991, of countries that “should be kept under close surveillance” and “pose risks” in terms of investments because they have “deficiencies in money laundering and terrorist financing”.
Şimşek has repeatedly emphasized the importance of Turkey’s removal from the Gray List to attract more investment to help Turkey get out of its economic distress. He was right.

What are high-level links good for?

The case of Dilan Polat and her family is important, as is the case of the siblings Güven, Serap, and Fatih Özer, who were sentenced (each) to 11,000-odd years in prison and a fine of 8 billion and 800 million (each) Turkish Liras each for committing cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering in Turkey, after being arrested in Albania, through the Thodex company.
One of the common points in both cases is the presence of gangs within the family. Thus, they aim to protect themselves with the logic that what is said at home stays at home. Another motive for protection is establishing close ties with influential political figures.
But the photos he took with Süleyman Soylu, former Minister of Interior and current Chairman of the TBMM Interior Affairs Commission, and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, did not save Fatih Özer from prison. Likewise, Dilan Polat’s video in which she claimed that she had “pleaded” Süleyman Soylu for “a certain job” during his ministerial term and that he “solved it in 3 hours, God bless him” did not prevent her from being detained after her assets were seized.

Whose money was laundered?

However, the records that may have been destroyed between the outbreak of the scandal and Özer’s arrest did not reveal whether any high-ranking state officials were involved in money laundering, a serious crime that harms the country’s economy. We do not yet know whether documents and information about Dilan Polat and her family members were destroyed in the period between the leak of the news of the investigation and her arrest. Therefore, the following three questions need to be addressed to ensure that this case is not closed as just another fraud and betting scam:
1- If Dilan Polat and her family organization were laundering money, to whom did this money belong? Whose money was being taken abroad and then brought back to Turkey and laundered through social media promotion and internet marketing, including drug trafficking?
2- Who were the people in politics, judiciary, police, finance, media, and the business world, if they can be identified, who facilitated Dilan Polat to carry out her business easily and to become spoiled and aggressively wealthy in a few years?
3- Is Dilan Polat the only suspectin such money laundering and fraud schemes? Aren’t there others like her who set an example of one of the worst methods of easy money for young people suffering economic difficulties and desperation?