The name of Wesley Sneijder comes up in a major Turkish drug and money laundering case. The former midfielder of Galatasaray, among others, is a shareholder of the real estate company Econ, which is said to be involved in money laundering practices of the highest boss of the criminal organization Comanchero. “I have nothing to do with criminal practices. I am actually a victim in this story,” Sneijder emphasizes.

Comanchero is an Australian motorcycle gang that is mainly involved in the production of drug trafficking and money laundering from Turkey. The large quantities of drugs are said to be shipped to the Netherlands and Australia, among other countries. The gang was busted by the police in Istanbul last November.

Turkish media reportedly obtained a report from Turkey's Financial Crimes Investigation Service. A source close to the investigation team confirmed to the RTL News that Sneijder's name appears in the investigation by the Masak investigative service.

Sneijder will leave on Thursday RTL News know that he bought shares in Econ 'about eight years ago'. “It was a construction company that was going to build a couple of towers. The company was owned by my neighbor, who also had a fashion store. I invested an amount of about 1.8 or 1.9 million and in return I got 15 percent of the shares.”

Sneijder knows nothing about criminal activities within Econ. “The opening was even attended by the press. How could I have known that something was wrong? If that was the case, I should have been protected at the time. I had nothing to do with it at all.”

Sneijder soon regretted his decision to buy shares in the Turkish company. “I never saw anything of my investments again. I tried to get something back several times, but that didn't work. Then I just said goodbye. Some investments yield something, and others don't. That's how things go. I was never involved with this company again.”

Several Instagram posts by Econ show that Sneijder has visited the Turkish company several times. The last visit dates back to 2020. Sneijder said he was proud to be part of Econ, but later retracted his statement. “Unfortunately! Money flows are always traceable. I have never received a single euro from Econ.”

Sneijder denies

The Turkish media claims that Sneijder came into contact with business partner Yunus Emre Borhan via criminal Hakan Arif Tavukcu. Sneijder is said to have brought Borhan into contact with Cetin G, a drug criminal from Schiedam. However, the former player rejects these accusations.

“I didn't put anyone in contact with each other. Do you know how many people I've sat at a table with that I don't know? As a famous person you meet thousands of people. I don't even listen to their names anymore. Moreover, I don't even speak Turkish,” said Sneijder, who also expressed his disappointment about the reporting via Instagram and has hired a lawyer to tackle articles 'that verge on libel and slander'.

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