ANKARA - The Turkish premier said on Monday that his party had not taken any money from a charity association.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his Justice & Development (AK) Party had not taken any money from a German charity association named Deniz Feneri e.V.
"Even a single kurus has not entered our party coffers' from Deniz Feneri," he said in a TV program.
In September 2008, a German court convicted three Turks of fraud for drawing off donations and using them for other purposes outside charity.
The Frankfurt State Court sentenced the three men working for the charity Deniz Feneri e.V in Germany to prison terms. The court sentenced Mehmet Gurhan to 5 years and 10 months, Mehmet Taskan to 2 years and 9 months. Firdevsi Ermis was sentenced to one year and 10 months, which was suspended on probation.
Court judge Johann Muller said after the trial that Deniz Feneri e.V. had received a total of 41 million euros of donations over last five years in Germany and 17 million euros of that had been sent to Turkey.