Appointment of 7 trustees to 4-employee firm illegal: lawyer

The appointment of seven trustees who are paid a monthly salary of TL 1,000 to run consulting firm İdeks Danışmanlık, which has only four employees, is unlawful, a lawyer representing the firm has said in a petition to a court.

Hakan Kahraman, an attorney representing İdeks Danışmanlık, appealed to the İstanbul Anatolian 2nd Penal Court of Peace and objected to the appointment of seven trustees to the firm as well as to their monthly salaries.

In his objection to the court Kahraman said the assignment of seven trustees to the company, which has only four employees, is unlawful. He also pointed out that six out of the seven trustees had never come to the office and that only one trustee, İmran Okumuş, visited the firm once, for a period of one hour.

The lawyer underlined that despite one month having elapsed since the appointment of the seven trustees, they have neglected their responsibilities as they have not visited the company, claiming that this proves how the trustees have failed to properly run the business.

The company operates under Kaynak Holding, a conglomerate that was seized last November in a government-orchestrated move.

Kaynak Holding owns the largest publishing house in Turkey, Kaynak Publishing House, in addition to the NT Mağazaları nationwide bookstore chain, and employs more than 8,000 people.

Trustees were appointed to run Kaynak Holding, a group that consists of 23 companies, The decision came less than a month after the seizure of Koza İpek Holding in late October 2015, one of the country's largest publicly listed conglomerates.

Kaynak's offices were first raided by police last September as part of a government-led media crackdown.

Published on Today's Zaman, 29 January 2016, Friday