For the victim company, structure the criminal case and recovery together.
In cases of fraud, embezzlement and breach of trust in which the company is the victim: the criminal complaint, intervention in the case, and coordinating compensation with the criminal process.
A criminal complaint is a strategic decision
When a company is the victim of a crime, the reflex is to go straight to the prosecutor's office; but it is the timing, the scope and the evidence behind the complaint that decide the outcome. An early, thin complaint ends in a decision not to prosecute. A well-built file creates leverage both for the prosecution and for recovery.
Building the file
The findings of the internal investigation are first assembled so that they will carry evidentiary value: the chain of documents, the system logs, the witness statements. The suspect's assets are traced, and applications for interim measures and seizure are timed to coincide with the complaint. The complaint itself is drafted so that a prosecutor can take in the file quickly.
Intervention and case monitoring
Once the public prosecution is opened, the company joins the proceedings as an intervener and takes an active part in them: it can put in evidence, question witnesses and pursue appeals. The findings in the criminal file support the parallel claim for damages, and the two proceedings are run on a single strategy.
From findings to a filed strategy
The engagement typically runs in five steps. Intake: the internal findings are taken in and re-tested for evidentiary value against the standards of the Turkish Criminal Procedure Code (Law No. 5271). Recovery arithmetic: before anything is filed, the suspect's asset position and the realistic collection routes are quantified — the complaint serves the recovery, not the other way round. Filing package: the complaint, the evidence index and the expert annexes, drafted for a fast prosecutorial read. Proceedings: intervention, hearings, examination of witnesses and appellate steps are run to plan. Closure: settlement offers are weighed against the recovery model at every stage. Deliverables: the complaint file, the evidence index and a recovery strategy memo.
The procedural frame, and the time limits
Where the offence is one that can be prosecuted only on complaint, the window is short: Article 73 of the Turkish Penal Code allows six months from the day the act and the person responsible become known. Intervention is governed by Article 237 of the Criminal Procedure Code and stays open throughout the prosecution phase until judgment is given; the status of intervener carries the right of appeal with it. A decision not to prosecute can be challenged before the criminal judgeship of peace under Article 173 — which is why the file is built from the outset to survive that objection as well as to persuade the prosecutor. Where the complaint is brought in a company’s name, the representation and authority documents have to be complete on the first day: a procedural gap costs months without the merits ever being reached.
Typical scenarios and the cross-border layer
Typical clients: companies that have suffered embezzlement or procurement fraud, groups facing forged instruments or breach of trust by a business partner, and German parent companies defrauded by a local counterparty in Türkiye. In cross-border files, evidence located abroad is brought in through mutual legal assistance channels and coordinated with counsel in the other jurisdiction. Where the incident first breaks as an emergency, our first-48-hours response secures the record; where the proceedings end in a negotiated resolution, the terms are structured through our settlement and outcome management practice.
We are by your side for Criminal Complaint & Intervention in the Case
We build economic-crime files with an eye for how the business actually runs, weigh settlement offers against the arithmetic of recovery, and feed the outcome back into the company's white-collar prevention framework.
Other Applications of This Service
White-Collar Crime & Corporate Defence — our other specialised solutions in this area.
Matter Connections
The focus areas, practice areas, desks and legislation connected with this sub-service.
The Team Delivering This Service
With our multilingual team of lawyers, well-versed in Turkish and German law, we are by your side.
Related Publications
Fresh perspectives and guides from the Knowledge Centre.
As a rule, no; the decision belongs to the company, taken together with its commercial, reputational and recovery dimensions. We separately check for exceptional reporting obligations.
The objection route is open and can succeed with strengthened evidence; the civil case, moreover, proceeds independently. Building the file strongly from the outset reduces this risk.
It depends on the recovery guarantee, the amount, and the confidentiality terms: sometimes it is the fastest route to collection, sometimes it weakens deterrence. The decision is made on the mathematics of the concrete offers.
Criminal Complaint & Intervention in the Case — get the right legal support.
Let us identify the right solution together, drawing on our experience in Türkiye and the DACH region.