Shareholders in Turkey's Bank Asya began legal action on Wednesday in an attempt to regain control of the Islamic lender after regulators dismissed the board and took over its management.
Bank Asya suffered a run on deposits last year after it became caught up in a power struggle between President Tayyip Erdoğan and Fethullah Gülen, a US-based Islamic cleric whose sympathizers founded the lender in 1996.
Regulators dismissed the board last week, citing a lack of sufficient transparency at the bank and saying shareholders had failed to provide required documentation.
The shareholders - whose stakes were seized as part of the decision - have began legal action to suspend the takeover, arguing the reason given did not merit such a drastic measure, according to their lawyer Süleyman Taşbaş.
"A failure to provide documents by a deadline is not grounds for taking over management. It is a clear infringement of the banking law," Taşbaş told Reuters.
Taşbaş said the takeover was politically driven, but Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said at the time that this was not the case and that the bank had failed to meet legal criteria.
The two regulatory bodies involved in the Bank Asya decision were the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK). The TMSF declined to comment on the shareholders' challenge, while no-one was immediately available to comment at the BDDK.
Erdoğan has long accused his former ally Gülen of orchestrating a corruption probe to undermine his rule and has waged a battle to purge institutions such as the police and judiciary of his supporters.
Last year, depositors including state-owned firms and institutions withdrew funds from the lender - according to media reports about 4 billion lira ($1.6 billion), a fifth of Bank Asya's total deposits. Erdoğan publicly criticized the bank and urged action against it after the sharp fall in deposits.
Taşbaş said two separate cases had been launched against the regulatory decision, in Ankara and İstanbul, where the two regulators are based. The courts could rule as early as next week on the requests to suspend the takeover, he added.
Published on Today's Zaman, 11 February 2015, Wednesday
Related
Latest news, academic excerpts, commentary, book reviews and interviews on Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement (aka The Gulen Movement).
Search This Blog
Overview
Content from 164 countries/states
Categories
New Audio Podcast
Some Highlights
- Top Three Reasons Why Turkey’s President Erdogan is Obsessed with Gulen
- Turkish witch-hunt against the Gulen movement lacks one thing: Evidence
- Bill Clinton on Fethullah Gulen's contribution to the world
- Erdoğan’s war against Hizmet: Step by step
- Is Gulen Movement a religious order?
- Is the Gülen Movement a civil society initiative?
- Popular Islam – Hizmet-Gülen Movement and Fethullah Gülen
- Why do they lie about Fethullah Gülen?
- The Responsibility of the Hizmet movement
- Gülen movement is a chance for humanity, American professor says
- Gulen Movement: An attempt to represent Islam and Muslims positively
- Muslims Must Combat the Extremist Cancer
- The Place of the Gulen Movement in the intellectual history of Islam
- A Universal Islamic Phenomenon in Turkish Religious Practice: the Gülen Case
Suggested Readings
Disclaimer: Copyrights and ideas in the articles belong to their respective owners. Hizmet Movement (Gulen Movement) Blog may not be held liable from the content of articles nor their potential misuse by third parties. Articles shared are not necessarily endorsed. Links and images used in the blog posts may differ from those at their original source. Translated articles are solely intended for the convenience of the readers, and may include minor errors.