ISTANBUL, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkish authorities detained 15 suspects and froze assets linked to several financial companies on Monday in the latest wave of an ongoing probe into alleged stock market manipulation, Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced.
Judicial proceedings have been launched against 25 suspects in connection with shares of Katilimevim Tasarruf Finansman, a Turkish savings-finance company, Gurlek said in a post on social media platform X.
He noted that 15 people have been detained so far and efforts are underway to capture 10 others.
The financial leg of the same probe involves the freezing of financial transactions and assets linked to executives and officials of nine investment and portfolio management companies, the minister added.
The latest detentions came as authorities expanded a probe into suspected market manipulation following a sharp sell-off at Borsa Istanbul last week. The benchmark BIST 100 index fell more than 7.5 percent at one point on Wednesday, triggering concerns over market stability.
Nine fund managers were detained earlier as part of the investigation. ■