Authorities have used an algorithm to identify those who profited from market abuse in troubled investment funds, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said, detailing efforts to recover money for investors.
The review covered the funds from their establishment through liquidation, Şimşek told a joint Bloomberg HT–Habertürk broadcast on Oct. 20.
Lists of those identified have been submitted to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) and the Justice Ministry.
The two institutions are working with the Central Securities Depository (MKK).
A separate recovery account has been opened for each of the 131 funds, alongside a general repayment account, bringing the total to 132, he said.
Initial requests for voluntary repayments would target companies and individuals with at least 10 million Turkish Liras in inflation-adjusted gains.
Their possible involvement in market manipulation would be assessed, Şimşek said.
“If they do not return it voluntarily, the Justice Ministry will initiate legal proceedings,” he said.
Recovery efforts would also extend to the personal assets of managers, shareholders and others involved in coordinated wrongdoing, he said.
Authorities had largely identified the assets and passed the information to the TMSF and prosecutors.
Funds managed by Tera, Pusula and Atlas remained under extraordinary liquidation, Şimşek said.
Atlas’s owners were in talks with the institution overseeing liquidation and had expressed willingness to return assets removed from the funds.
Interim payments of up to 1 million liras would follow Parliament’s approval of the liquidation bill, depending on the resources available in each fund. Small investors and money market fund holders would receive priority.
The payments could cover around 390,000 accounts if sufficient resources were available, he said.
Investors would retain their claims to any remaining balances.
Şimşek said 66 of the 131 funds had completed ordinary liquidation.
He also outlined plans for stronger supervision and tougher penalties for market manipulation and insider trading, potentially transferring experienced tax inspectors to regulatory institutions. Implementation of existing fund guidelines would not be postponed.
Separately, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said efforts were continuing to recover unlawful gains and repay investors.
He cautioned against treating measures targeting troubled funds as restrictions on the wider market, saying funds operating within the rules accounted for more than 90 percent of the market.
