The Turkish exchange Borsa Istanbul has announced it has decided to cancel the trading authorization of Özbey Precious Metals and to end its membership at a board of directors' meeting held on the 3rd of February 2017, according to media reports from the country.
The reason for the move was not revealed by Borsa Istanbul, only that it was decided in accordance with the relevant regulations. Sources in Turkey speculate that it was due to illegal Forex transactions executed by the bullion trading firm.
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Hüseyin Gürsöz, CEO, Meta Technologies
Hüseyin Gürsöz, CEO of boutique software and solution provider Meta Technologies and expert on the Turkish market, commented on the Özbey Precious Metals situation: "They were selling physical gold legally but now they cannot do this anymore because the exchange canceled their license. I was called by a regulator and told that the reason is an investigation by the Capital Board of Governors (Capital Markets Board of Turkey) about the group regarding illegal forex transactions. Ozbey allegedly had accounts at an international brokerage and were sending money for forex transactions through Özbey Precious Metals, now the Board is investigating this."
Özbey Precious Metals is the sister company of Özbey Forex, a brokerage that faced an alleged armed raid by angry clients on in 2012. The managers reported the incident to the Turkish police and the raiders are facing criminal allegations of extortion, hostage taking, illegal Forex Trading , tax evasion and makings threats with a gun – charges that carry a maximum penalty of 56 years in Turkey.
