Türkiye uncovers major citizenship-by-investment fraud
Turkish authorities have launched a sweeping investigation into alleged fraud in the country’s citizenship-by-investment program, detaining 72 suspects accused of helping foreign nationals obtain Turkish citizenship through falsified property valuation reports and sham real estate transactions.
The operation, coordinated by the Organized Crime Investigation Bureau of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, was carried out simultaneously across 16 provinces.
According to Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, investigators uncovered an alleged criminal network that artificially inflated the value of low-priced properties through forged appraisal reports, enabling foreign applicants to meet the investment threshold required for Turkish citizenship.
Authorities said the scheme involved fictitious property sales and fabricated financial transactions designed to create the appearance that qualifying investments had been made. Investigators estimate that approximately 2.5 billion Turkish Liras (around $52 million) that should have entered the country under the investment program was never transferred to Türkiye. Instead, false money movements were allegedly created while the network profited unlawfully from foreign applicants seeking citizenship.
