Turkish businessman Galip Ozturk was arrested by Georgian authorities Tuesday, following a police raid in Batumi.
The 57-year-old founder of Turkish intercity bus company Metro Turizm was detained on charges related to money laundering and falsifying documents, Finance Ministry spokeswoman Nato Natroshvili said in a press release. The Mtavari TV channel showed footage of special forces raiding a hotel that Ozturk owns in the seaside trade hub bordering Turkey.
Ozturk, a staunch defender of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, fled to Georgia after an appeals court approved his life sentence related to a 1996 murder.
Ozturk built his Metro Holding from scratch, starting as a tea server at a coach station. In a 2016 interview with Bloomberg, he voiced disdain against established Turkish companies, calling them “white Turks” whose only skill was transferring cash abroad. He praised Erdogan as “the greatest leader in the 1,000-year history of the Ottomans.”
As Metro’s honorary chairman, Ozturk has no executive position, according to a statement from the company on Wednesday. He owns a 0.07% stake, it said.
Metro shares declined as much as 9.2% on Wednesday, and were trading down 5.9% as of 12:24 p.m. in Istanbul. The stock has slumped about 18% this year.
Source: Bloomberg
