Turkish prosecutor files new indictment in exam fraud

By Baris Kilic and Serdar Acil

ANKARA (AA) - Ankara prosecutors Thursday filed charges against 91 suspects for allegedly cheating on a 2010 civil service recruitment exam, known as KPSS.

In the Ankara Prosecutor's Office indictment sent to Ankara’s Second High Criminal Court, the suspects are charged with being members of FETO/PDY, falsifying documents, and harming public institutions and organizations.

If the court accepts the indictment, the number of cases filed over the 2010 KPSS civil service exam will rise to five, and the number of defendants in these cases will jump to 475.

Among the suspects are Muhammet Sait Gulen, a relative of Fetullah Gulen – the leader of the FETO terrorist organization – and Yalcin Baransu and Aygun Baransu, the brother and wife of Mehmet Baransu, respectively.

Mehmet Baransu was found guilty last year of plotting against suspects in the "Sledgehammer" military coup case, forming a criminal organization, and acquiring, disclosing, and destroying confidential state documents.

The indictment states that nearly 295,000 people took the July 2010 exam. There was telephone contact among 1,970 of the 3,227 candidates who got high scores, and 907 of them did not take the next exam, when the 2010 exam was canceled and replaced by a new one.

According to the indictment, 1,148 of the people who got high scores are also related to each other, while 896 of them are married. Moreover, 2,690 of the candidates worked for the same company or institution, while 1,136 of them gave identical contact addresses.

The indictment also states that 148 of the 350 people who got all 120 questions correct did not sit the repeated examination.

The prosecutor also claimed that questions from many of state exams were leaked and distributed, such as the as 2009-2011 KPSS, 2011 and 2012 judicial exams, the 2011-2013 foreign language exam, and the 2012 University Entrance Exam, as well as gendarme exams, military high school exams, and police academy exams.

The indictment stresses that early versions of the culture, skill, and educational sciences sections of the 2010 exam were obtained and distributed beforehand, according to gendarmerie crime units, Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TUBITAK) reports, complaints, and statements of witnesses.

The 2010 KPSS was canceled and reheld, resulting in state damages of $9.11 million, the prosecutor said in the indictment.

The prosecutor opened the first case last December against 230 suspects. These cases still remain underway at Ankara’s Second Heavy Penal Court.

*Ilker Girit in Istanbul contributed to this story.