ISTANBUL, Jan 10 (AFP) - A Turkish court Monday arrested a nephew of former Turkish president Suleyman Demirel over charges of large-scale fraud in a bank he formerly owned, Anatolia news agency reported.
Yahya Murat Demirel was sent to an Istanbul prison several hours after he was discharged from hospital where he was rushed last Friday after he took a drug overdose during a court hearing following his extradition from Bulgaria.
His lawyers have argued that Demirel is psycologically unstable and should stay in hospital.
Demirel, who was banned from leaving Turkey, was arrested in the port city of Bourgas, eastern Bulgaria, along with his wife on December 31 after the couple arrived on board a Turkish ship carrying false identity documents.
The businessman, whose uncle served as Turkey's president between 1993 and 2000, is accused of syphoning 1.2 billion dollars (900,000 euros) from the now-defunct Egebank which he owned until 1999 when it came to the brink of collapse and was seized by banking authorities.
01/10/2005 16:00 GMT - AFP