ANKARA
Turkish parliament assigned MPs to a corruption inquiry committee on Tuesday to look into corruption claims against four former ministers.
Former Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, Interior Minister Muammer Guler and Urbanization Minister Erdogan Bayraktar resigned from their posts after an anti-graft probe was launched on December 17 last year and EU Minister Egemen Bagis was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle.
The committee is made up of 15 MPs from political parties represented in the parliament.
The ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party will be represented with nine members in the committee, the Republican People's Party (CHP) with four members, and one member each for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
The committee will conduct its two-month investigation which is closed to the public. It will, however, issue a report of its findings to the parliament speaker's office at the end of the investigation. When the committee presents its report to the parliament, the MPs will vote by secret ballot at the general assembly.
The committee is entrusted with extensive authority to demand and/or seize the corruption claims' documentation from public and private institutions and will be able to hear the cabinet members, the witnesses to the corruption claims and experts' opinions.
If the MPs approve the report with an absolute majority with 276 MPs of the 550-seat Turkish Parliament - the four former ministers will be tried in the supreme court.
AK Party committee members are as follows: Hakki Koylu (Kastamonu province), Mustafa Akis (Konya), Yusuf Baser (Yozgat), Mustafa Kemal Serbetcioglu (Bursa), Bilal Ucar (Denizli), Ilknur Inceoz (Aksaray), Ayse Turkmenoglu (Konya), Ismet Su (Bursa) and Yilmaz Tunc (Bartin).
CHP's appointed members are: Rıza Turmen and Erdal Aksunger (Izmir province), Haluk Eyidogan (Istanbul), Namik Havutca (Balikesir).
The MHP committee member is Mesut Dedeoglu (Kahramanmaras province) and the HDP member is Bengi Yildiz (Batman province).
www.aa.com.tr/en
