41 food executives face detention over price manipulation

ISTANBUL

(DHA Photo)

Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into major food distributors supplying fruit and vegetable wholesale markets, with detention warrants issued for 41 company executives over alleged price manipulation and related financial crimes.

The investigation, led by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, examines the pricing chain from farmers to consumers. Authorities reviewed data from the Wholesale Market Registration System and the Farmer Registration System, while the Tax Inspection Board under the Treasury and Finance Ministry prepared a comprehensive report.

Investigators also took statements from over 1,000 farmers to determine the prices at which produce left farms and the conditions under which it was sold to suppliers.

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the investigation found that some major suppliers had allegedly exploited their dominant position in the market by understating the supply of produce and overstating costs.

“Findings indicate that they issued fake producer receipts to create fictitious costs and, through these methods, manipulated prices upward in the fresh fruit and vegetable market to obtain illicit profits,” Gürlek said.

Following the findings and reports, prosecutors ordered the detention of 41 executives. Simultaneous searches were conducted at 109 workplaces and residences across 22 provinces as part of the operation.

Teams from the Istanbul Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit detained 33 suspects in the raids.

The suspects face charges including manipulating market prices, violating the Tax Procedure Law, document forgery and laundering assets derived from crime.

Gürlek stressed that authorities would not allow any stage of the supply chain “from the field to the table” to become a means of illicit profit at the expense of farmers’ labor and consumers’ household budgets.