The Court of Accounts has held former Minister of Finance Sunat Atun responsible for a financial loss of 6.7 million dollars, Yeniduzen reports.
Atun has denied responsibility and told Yeniduzen that “Nobody talked to me while the report was being prepared. There is no account I cannot give“.
The long awaited report, prepared by the Turkish Court of Accounts has been presented to parliament.
Yeniduzen described the findings in the report as scandalous.
The report covers the fuel purchases for state-owned electricity authority Kib-Tek between November 2021 and September 2022, when purchases were made by order of the Council of Ministers, in violation of the law on Public Procurement. According to the report, the government paid an extra 6.747 million dollars for fuel.
It was stated that Kib-Tek was a damaged institution, however no statement was made regarding the fact that fuel was purchased without tender when Kib-Tek was attached to the Prime Ministry.
In the report, it is stated that Sunat Atun, the Minister of Finance responsible for Kib-Tek, made the proposal to “buy fuel without a tender”, additionally, the failure of his attempt to “buy fuel from TPIC”* is documented.
Yeniduzen asked Atun if he thought the report was impartial or biased. He responded by saying “I don’t want to comment before I receive an official report“.
The former finance minister stated the report would be sent to the Parliamentary Court of Accounts Committee as is required, when opinions will be given.
“There is no account I cannot give, my understanding is clear. Based on years of experience, I did my best for the institution during my two-part ministry”.
The report concludes with the emphasis that the illegal actions which were uncovered were referred to the Office of the Chief Prosecutor for evaluation.
*TPIC – Turkish Petroleum International
Yeniduzen
[Sunat Atun served as Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Ünal Üstel. He resigned from his post on 27 July 2022. He remains UBP deputy for Famagusta. Ed.]
