Top finance officials meet with bogus Somali delegation

[Somaliman%]

The Finance Ministry and central bank fall victim to a hoax, receiving a phony Somali delegation that reportedly asked them to transfer billions of dollars from a bank in Switzerland

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News



While everyone receives tens of mails every day from various people asking their help in transferring millions of dollars in exchange for a few thousand, not many are fooled by it.Late on Thursday, however, the Finance Ministry and the Turkish Central Bank confirmed rumors that they had met with a phony Somali delegation.

The ministry and the bank said in a statement that Finance Minister Kemal Unakıtan and Central Bank Governor Durmuş Yılmaz each held a short meeting with the so-called delegation but noted, “The opinions and the proposals of the delegation were ignored.”

The statement said the meetings lasted 15 minutes each.The bogus delegation introduced themselves as having been authorized to represent the Somali government and the Finance Ministry accepted them at their word. “One member of the delegation introduced himself as the governor of the Somali Central Bank and consequently a meeting was arranged with the Turkish Central Bank governor.”

The deception was unearthed by the Foreign Ministry after the delegation asked to meet with the president and an attempt was made to verify their credentials. The Foreign Ministry issued a statewide warning noting that the delegation was not an official one and that it was trying to defraud state institutions. Only when the warning reached them did Unakıtan and Yılmaz realize they had been tricked.

The Finance Ministry and the central bank statement failed to answer questions such as why was it so easy for a phony delegation to get an appointment with the minister, did the delegation meet with any other ministers and what did the swindlers really aim to achieve.Some reports said the phony Somali delegation asked Unakıtan's help in transferring billions of dollars from secret accounts in Switzerland to Turkey.

Source: Turkish Daily News, Oct. 7, 2006