ANKARA, (Reuters) – A Turkish court has banned media from reporting on a parliamentary investigation into corruption allegations against four ex-ministers, a move the opposition says amounts to protecting thieves.
Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister and now president, has called the corruption scandal this year a plot to unseat him. Courts have since dropped cases, including those against the sons of three ministers and businessmen close to Erdogan.
A copy of Tuesday’s ruling, seen by Reuters, said the ban was imposed to “prevent damage to the individual rights” of the former economy, interior, EU affairs and environment ministers.
A parliamentary commission was set up in May to study prosecutors’ files alleging wrongdoing by the ministers, who denied the accusations. It met for the first time in July and is due to finish its work by Dec. 27.
The Turkish Journalists’ Association called the ban censorship, and opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu accused parliament speaker Cemil Cicek of seeking it.
“Since when has parliament taken the role of protecting thieves,” Kilicdaroglu told a party meeting in Istanbul.
Cicek later denied seeking the ban. The head of the parliamentary commission, dominated by members of the ruling AK Party, said he had called for it.
