ISTANBUL, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- An Istanbul court early Friday remanded former Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya in custody on charges of capital market violations and organized crime, as part of an ongoing investigation into a major stock market fund crisis.
According to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Kaya, a former deputy chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party, is accused of using non-public information to profit from shares in shipbuilder Ozata Denizcilik.
Prosecutors alleged she bypassed the standard two-business-day settlement rules to cash out her shares via a direct transfer the same day, one day before a fund liquidation triggered market turmoil.
Her husband, Ilyas Kaya, and former Capital Markets Board Chairman Ibrahim Omer Gonul were released under judicial control, including a travel ban, following their questioning.
In September, an opposition party spokesperson alleged that Kaya and her husband reaped about 2.17 billion Turkish liras (about 43 million U.S. dollars) from a 163-million-lira investment in the company.
Market data showed that the company's shares had skyrocketed from around 220 liras in April to 4,980 liras by Sept. 15, just before the market crash.
The crisis erupted in mid-September when suspected price manipulation in thinly traded stocks triggered a severe liquidity crunch and a massive selloff at Borsa Istanbul, the country's main stock exchange.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced on Tuesday that 112 of 433 suspects had been arrested in the probe.
Describing the alleged scheme as a "comprehensive crime network" that infiltrated high-level financial institutions, Gurlek vowed to expose all connections.
The crisis has affected around 456,000 investors, according to the Capital Markets Board.
Gurlek said in an earlier statement that investigators had identified 187.65 billion liras in gains made by 214 individuals and companies from three funds.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that the investigation was uncovering bribery and abuses one by one.
Meanwhile, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said that authorities had paid a total of 130.2 billion liras to 420,031 individual investors across 108 funds undergoing liquidation. ■