The whistle-blower who exposed slain Turkish-Cypriot tycoon Halil Falyalı’s alleged Malta-linked illegal betting empire has been murdered in the Netherlands.
Cemil Önal was reportedly killed on the terrace of a hotel in the south of the Netherlands on the evening of Thursday 1st May.
Follow the Money said it had spoken on Monday to Önal, who said he expected an attack on his life. His lawyer told Follow the Money that they had reported the danger to Dutch authorities.
Önal had warned that his life was in danger, saying that the bribes the network paid to powerful individuals in Turkey and northern Cyprus made him a target.
Turkish prosecutors indicted Önal for allegedly establishing a criminal group for laundering money obtained from illegal betting. Önal feared he would be murdered if he returned to the country due to the information he had on powerful individuals.
Authorities in Türkiye denied these allegations. Önal was released from prison in the Netherlands while his case was pending.
Since leaving prison, he has given media interviews, where he voiced allegations against “bureaucrats and politicians from Türkiye and some of their relatives”.
Önal spoke to OCCRP as part of an investigation which included Amphora Media and Times of Malta, which revealed a web of companies and websites within Falyalı’s network. Falyalı was murdered in February 2022. His associates allegedly ran an expansive illegal betting operation that generated at least €75 million per month, and had ties to Malta.
According to Önal’s testimony, corporate documents and online records, Ulaş Utku Bozdoğan, founder and owner of the Kebab Factory chain, and Burak Başel, co-proprietor of the Food for Fit café, were allegedly connected to the network of Falyalı.
Bozdoğan and Başel played roles in the licensing of allegedly illegal gambling websites within the network. Together, they allegedly helped sustain and expand the network, using Malta’s regulatory environment to their advantage.
A government source confirmed that the authorities are investigating Falyalı’s links to Malta. Malta’s Police Force said it was “not in a position to confirm or otherwise such information”.
Bozdoğan and Başel denied the claims.
“I have never met or had any dealings with Mr Cemil Önal and/or Halil Falyali and I can say that this information is false.” Bozdoğan said.
Turkish prosecutors indicted Önal for allegedly establishing a criminal group for laundering money obtained from illegal betting.
In January 2023, at Turkey’s request, Interpol issued a red notice, describing Önal as “one of the masterminds” of Falyalı’s murder. Önal denied the allegations.
Just ten months after Falyalı’s murder, authorities seized around €40 million in assets, with Turkey’s Interior Minister announcing a crackdown on the network. He even referenced Malta’s role in a press conference.
“Virtual betting, virtual gambling and crypto constitute the circulation of money in the world without any obstacles… From the Balkans to Malta and Cyprus, they are the places where [these groups] base themselves.”
In December last year, Turkish prosecutors issued a sweeping indictment against 250 people, including 35 alleged leaders of Falyalı’s network, including his widow Özge Taşker Falyalı. Reporters uncovered that Özge purchased a dozen luxury properties in Dubai worth around €58 million in the year after her husband’s death.
The indictment revealed that Falyalı allegedly opened a cryptocurrency wallet in Malta. Malta adopted an act in 2018, which provided a grace period to cryptocurrency operators of 12 months to apply for an appropriate licence.
Records and Onal’s first-hand account suggested Vigen Badalyan & his SoftConstruct provided illegal gambling services in Turkiye and were linked to the illegal gambling network of Falyalı.
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