Former Turkish ministers hold contradicting views over wiretap recordings in graft case

ANKARA

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The latest testimonies from former ministers at a parliamentary commission on corruption have revealed that the implicated ministers have different positions toward wiretap recordings that were presented during a graft probe case that was launched in December 2013.

While former EU Minister and EU Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış said the wiretap recordings in the corruption case were montaged from various speeches, former Environment and Urbanization Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar said the recordings should be investigated to prove his innocence.

Bağış said in his testimony before the parliamentary commission that “political scaffolding” was erected as the wiretap recordings, footage and documents were presented as evidence even though they were actually montaged, manipulated and dubbed. He also added that all of the recordings were a violation of the right to privacy.

Meanwhile, Bayraktar said the 61 wiretap recordings were proof of his innocence, adding that if he were guilty, he would need to be tried before the Supreme Council. He claimed that his conversations about the allegations against him were all in the voice recordings and that those recordings showed that he had done nothing wrong or illegal.