Significiant Regulations Introduced by the 11th Judicial Package in Relation to Financial Crimes

The Law No. 7571 on the Amendment of the Turkish Criminal Code, Certain Laws, and Decree Law No. 631, publicly referred to as the 11th Judicial Package (the “Law”), was adopted by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye on December 24, 2025 and published in the Official Gazette dated December 25, 2025 and numbered 3318. With the

exception of Article 11 of the Law, which provides for amendments to the Public Procurement Law No. 4734 and is scheduled to enter into force on December 26, 2025, all other provisions entered into force as of December 25, 2025. The provisions of the Law that have entered into force introduce significant regulations concerning financial crimes under the Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237, the Criminal Procedure Code No. 5271 (the “CPC”), and the Law No. 5235 on the Establishment, Duties, and Powers of the Courts of First Instance and the Regional Courts of Appeal. (the ”Law No. 5235”)

• Suspension and Seizure of Accounts Involving Proceeds Obtained from Cybercrimes

Pursuant to the newly enacted regulation and Article 128/A introduced into the CPC, where there is reasonable suspicion that the offences of aggravated theft, aggravated fraud, or misuse of bank or credit cards as regulated under the Turkish Criminal Code have been committed, any account used in the commission of the offence and subject to transactions carried out or attempted through, or held with, a bank, a payment service provider or a crypto asset service provider (the “CASP”) may be suspended for up to forty eight hours by the relevant bank, payment service provider, or CASP. Following such suspension, the suspension measure and the account transactions shall be immediately reported by the relevant institution to the Chief Public Prosecutor, together with all relevant information and documentation.

Under the subsequent provisions of the article, it is stipulatedthat the proceeds of crime held in the suspended account maybe seized either by a court decision or, in cases where delaywould be prejudicial, by a written order of the PublicProsecutor or upon the written request of the relevantinstitution. Any seizure order issued by the Public Prosecutorshall be submitted for the approval of the Criminal Judgeshipof Peace within twenty four hours. If no decision is rendered bythe judge within this period, or if the seizure is rejected, theseizure measure shall automatically be lifted. Article 128/A ofthe CPC provides that, in order to implement a seizuremeasure, the requirement under Article 128 of the CPC toobtain a report from the competent administrative authorityprior to seizure shall not apply.

Furthermore, the regulation provides that, within the scope of an ongoing investigation or prosecution, any information or document requested by the Public Prosecutor, judge, or court from a bank, a payment service provider, or a CASP must besubmitted in physical or electronic form within ten days. In cases where the requested information or documents are notsubmitted, or are submitted incompletely, the Public Prosecutor is authorized to impose an administrative fine on therelevant bank, payment service provider, or CASP in the amount of Turkish lira 50,000 to Turkish lira 300,000.

• Jurisdiction of the Criminal Courts of First Instance in Cases of Aggravated Fraud

Within the scope of the newly enacted regulations, Article 12 of Law No. 5235, which sets forth the jurisdiction of the HighCriminal Courts, has been amended. In this context, the phrase “ aggravated fraud (Article 158) ” has been removed fromthe provision governing the jurisdiction of the High Criminal Courts, and it has been stipulated that cases relating to thisoffence shall fall within the jurisdiction of the Criminal Courts of First Instance pursuant to Article 11 of Law No. 5235. Inaddition, pursuant to “Provisional Article 7” introduced into Law No. 5235, it is provided that, as of the date on which theamendment entered into force, namely December 25, 2025, the court hearing cases of aggravated fraud that were pendingbefore the High Criminal Courts, or that were subject to appellate or cassation review, shall remain unchanged. Accordingly,no decision of lack of jurisdiction or reversal can be rendered on the basis of this amendment. Therefore, in order toprevent any uncertainty in practice arising from the newly enacted regulations, it has been clarified that the change injurisdiction shall apply only to cases to be filed after the entry into force of the amendment, while cases that are currentlypending shall continue to be heard by the High Criminal Courts.