Company Owner Is Detained in a Turkish Customs Smuggling Investigation: What Are Their Rights? (2026 Updated Guide)

A foreign company owner is detained in Turkey over alleged customs smuggling. Learn about detention, statements, interpreters, lawyers, searches, seized goods, company records, release and criminal defense strategy.

A customs dispute in Turkey can move beyond additional duties and administrative penalties and become a criminal investigation when authorities suspect conduct falling within anti-smuggling legislation. For a foreign company owner, the situation becomes particularly urgent if police, customs enforcement officers or prosecutors detain the owner personally. Detention does not establish guilt, and ownership of a company does not by itself prove personal criminal responsibility. The investigation must be examined according to the alleged conduct, the individual’s actual role, the evidence and the required elements of the suspected offense.

The first hours are especially important. A company owner should understand why they have been detained, which offense is alleged, whether they are being treated as a suspect, what evidence has been seized, and what rights apply before any detailed statement is given.

Why Can a Company Owner Be Detained in a Customs Smuggling Investigation?

A criminal customs investigation may arise from allegations concerning false customs documents, undeclared goods, concealment, incorrect origin information, fraudulent certificates, customs valuation practices, prohibited or restricted goods, misuse of customs procedures or other conduct suspected of constituting a criminal offense rather than an ordinary administrative irregularity.

The exact allegation should be identified immediately.

Administrative Customs Liability and Criminal Liability Are Different

An additional customs assessment or administrative fine does not automatically mean that the company owner committed a criminal offense.

Customs debt, administrative penalties, seizure of goods and criminal responsibility should be analyzed separately. The existence of an incorrect customs declaration may establish a regulatory problem without necessarily proving the personal criminal intent or participation required for a particular offense.

Company Ownership Does Not Automatically Create Criminal Liability

One of the most important defense issues is the distinction between ownership and personal conduct.

A shareholder may own all or most of a company while having no involvement in day-to-day customs declarations. Conversely, an owner who personally instructed employees to conceal goods or prepare false documents may face a substantially different evidentiary position.

The investigation should therefore identify what the individual actually did.

What Should the Owner Ask Immediately?

The detained person should determine the alleged offense and their procedural status. They should also identify which prosecutor’s office or investigating authority is handling the matter and whether a search, seizure or detention decision has been issued.

The owner should avoid guessing about the accusation during questioning.

Right to a Lawyer

A detained suspect has important defense rights under Turkish criminal procedure. Access to legal counsel becomes especially important in customs smuggling cases because the investigation can involve both technical customs rules and criminal allegations.

A lawyer can review the procedural position, participate in the statement process within the applicable rules, challenge unlawful measures and coordinate the preservation of favorable evidence.

Do Not Treat the Police Statement as an Informal Conversation

A statement given during a criminal investigation can become significant evidence.

A company owner should therefore understand the allegation before giving detailed explanations about invoices, customs declarations, suppliers, payments, origin, valuation or company procedures.

Right to Remain Silent

A suspect has the right not to make self-incriminating statements. The decision whether to answer questions should be made strategically after understanding the accusation and available evidence.

Silence should not be confused with an admission of guilt.

Foreign Company Owners Who Do Not Speak Turkish

A foreign suspect who cannot adequately understand Turkish should communicate this immediately. Criminal proceedings should not be conducted on the assumption that limited conversational Turkish is sufficient to understand complex customs and criminal terminology.

Interpreter Rights Are Critical

The interpreter should translate the questions and answers accurately. Customs investigations can involve specialized concepts such as customs value, origin, preferential treatment, royalties, certificates, tariff classification and transit procedures.

A translation error concerning one of these concepts can materially distort a statement.

Never Sign a Statement You Do Not Understand

The company owner should read or have the entire statement accurately translated before signing it.

If an answer has been translated incorrectly, shortened materially or recorded in a way that changes its meaning, the issue should be raised before signature.

Can an Incorrect Police Statement Be Challenged Later?

Potentially. The circumstances in which the statement was taken, access to counsel, interpretation problems, procedural compliance and accuracy of the written record can all become relevant.

However, preventing an inaccurate record from being created is preferable to attempting to correct it later.

What Happens After Detention?

Depending on the investigation, the suspect may be questioned and later released, subjected to judicial-control measures or brought before the competent judicial authority where detention pending trial is sought.

The outcome depends on the alleged offense, evidence, procedural risks and individual circumstances.

Detention Pending Trial Is Not Automatic

Being detained by law-enforcement officers does not automatically mean that the company owner will be remanded in custody.

Any request for continued detention must be considered within the applicable criminal-procedure requirements.

Judicial Control May Be Considered

Depending on the circumstances, judicial-control measures may be relevant instead of detention pending trial. The defense should address the specific risks alleged by the prosecution rather than merely making a general request for release.

Foreign Nationality Alone Should Not Decide the Case

The fact that the company owner is a foreign national does not itself prove criminal responsibility. Where authorities raise concerns about availability during proceedings, the defense should document relevant connections and circumstances appropriately.

Searches of Company Premises

Customs smuggling investigations may involve searches of offices, warehouses, factories, vehicles or other locations.

The defense should identify the legal basis for the search, its scope, what was seized and how the search was documented.

Search and Seizure Records Should Be Obtained

Preserve copies of available search, seizure and inventory records. The company should know exactly which computers, phones, files, accounting records, goods and other property authorities have taken.

Digital Devices Can Become Central Evidence

Phones, laptops, company servers and electronic communications can contain invoices, messages, supplier discussions and customs documents.

The defense should examine how digital evidence was obtained, preserved and analyzed and whether the material is genuinely attributable to the suspect.

A Message Must Be Read in Context

A single email or messaging application conversation should not automatically be interpreted without the surrounding commercial context.

Terms commonly used in international trade can be misunderstood when isolated from the entire transaction.

Customs Broker Communications Are Important

Determine what information the company provided to its customs broker and what decisions the broker made independently.

Instructions, emails, technical specifications and supporting documents can help establish who knew what at the time the customs declaration was prepared.

Who Selected the Tariff Classification?

If the investigation concerns incorrect classification, identify whether the code came from the manufacturer, importer, customs broker or an earlier classification practice.

A technical classification dispute should not automatically be characterized as deliberate smuggling.

Incorrect Customs Valuation Requires Detailed Analysis

If authorities allege that the declared value was artificially reduced, review invoices, payments, transfer-pricing arrangements, royalties, assists, commissions and related-party transactions.

An incorrect valuation calculation does not automatically establish deliberate criminal conduct.

Undeclared Royalties Can Trigger Wider Investigation

Where post-clearance audits reveal royalty or license payments, Customs may examine whether those amounts should have been included in customs value.

The defense should first determine whether the payment was legally includable before addressing any allegation that it was deliberately concealed.

Country-of-Origin Disputes Can Become Criminal Allegations

Origin disputes may involve certificates, manufacturing locations, third-country routing and supplier declarations.

An incorrect origin claim can have serious consequences, particularly where it affects anti-dumping duties or other import measures, but criminal responsibility still requires analysis of the individual’s actual knowledge and conduct.

Fake A.TR or EUR.1 Allegations Require Immediate Evidence Preservation

If authorities suspect that an origin or circulation document is false, the foreign exporter, issuing authority, supplier and customs broker may all hold relevant evidence.

The company should preserve correspondence showing how the document was obtained and whether the importer had reason to question its authenticity.

Supplier Misconduct May Be a Defense Issue

A Turkish importer may have received incorrect documents from a foreign supplier without knowing that the information was false.

Obtain the supply agreement, emails, certificates, invoices and representations made by the supplier.

The Company Owner’s Role Must Be Separated From Employee Conduct

Large companies may have dedicated logistics, purchasing, finance and customs departments. The prosecution should not automatically attribute every operational decision to the shareholder or owner.

Prepare an organizational chart and actual responsibility matrix.

Signature Authority Is Not the Same as Knowledge

A company owner may have formal signature authority while relying on specialist employees for customs matters.

The investigation should distinguish formal corporate authority from evidence of actual knowledge, instructions or participation.

Accounting Records Can Support the Defense

Properly recorded payments, supplier invoices, bank transfers and accounting entries may contradict an allegation that transactions were intentionally concealed.

Preserve original accounting data immediately.

Bank Records May Become Important

Where authorities allege concealed payments or undervaluation, bank transfers can help reconstruct the actual transaction.

Payments should be matched with invoices, contracts, royalties and related commercial obligations.

Goods May Be Seized During the Investigation

Seizure of imported goods can occur separately from detention of the company owner. The legal basis for retaining the goods should be reviewed and any available challenge or return mechanism evaluated.

Company Bank Accounts May Also Be Affected

In serious investigations, financial measures may create immediate operational problems. If accounts or assets are restrained, the company should obtain the underlying decision and evaluate the applicable challenge procedure promptly.

Preserve Evidence Before Employees Delete It

Once an investigation begins, the company should issue an internal preservation instruction covering emails, messages, customs files, accounting records, supplier documents and electronic data.

Routine deletion policies should be suspended where necessary to preserve relevant material.

Do Not Fabricate Missing Documents

Never create retrospective invoices, supplier declarations, origin documents or internal approvals and present them as historical records.

A missing document may create a compliance problem; fabricated evidence can create a much more serious criminal problem.

Internal Investigation May Be Necessary

The company should reconstruct the transaction independently. Determine what goods were imported, who selected the supplier, who prepared the documentation, who instructed the broker, how payment was made and who knew about any discrepancy.

Avoid Coordinating False Statements

Employees and managers should not be instructed to provide a common artificial version of events.

Legal coordination means preserving evidence and understanding responsibilities—not manufacturing a story.

Can the Owner’s Passport Be Taken?

Travel-related measures may arise depending on the investigation and judicial decisions. If a passport is physically retained or a travel restriction is imposed, the legal basis should be identified and the appropriate return or objection procedure evaluated.

Can the Owner Leave Turkey After Release?

That depends on whether any judicial-control or travel restriction has been imposed. The individual should verify their procedural status before making international travel arrangements.

What If the Owner Is Wrongly Accused?

The defense should build an affirmative evidentiary record rather than rely solely on denial.

Organizational charts, customs broker communications, supplier documents, bank records, technical reports and internal approval procedures may demonstrate that the owner neither knew of nor participated in the alleged misconduct.

Administrative and Criminal Cases Must Be Coordinated

Statements made in a customs objection can affect the criminal file, while statements in the criminal investigation may affect the customs dispute.

The defense strategy should therefore coordinate both proceedings.

Challenging the Customs Assessment May Be Important

If the alleged smuggling theory depends on an incorrect customs classification, valuation or origin determination, the underlying customs issue should be challenged through the appropriate procedure where available.

A technical customs defense can be central to the criminal defense.

Expert Evidence Can Be Necessary

Complex cases may require customs, accounting, engineering or valuation expertise.

For example, whether machinery belongs under one tariff classification rather than another may require detailed technical analysis.

Foreign Parent Companies Should Preserve Their Records

If the Turkish importer belongs to an international corporate group, relevant evidence may be held abroad.

The parent company should preserve contracts, transfer-pricing documentation, manufacturing information and correspondence relating to the disputed imports.

Review Historical Imports Carefully

A criminal investigation involving one shipment can lead authorities to examine earlier transactions.

Create a declaration-by-declaration matrix showing product, supplier, origin, tariff classification, customs value and responsible personnel.

Do Not Assume Every Historical Declaration Has the Same Problem

Suppliers, products, prices and customs practices may have changed over time. Historical transactions should be analyzed individually rather than treated as one undifferentiated group.

Protect Business Continuity

A detention can disrupt management, banking, logistics and customer relationships. The company should designate authorized personnel to manage ordinary operations while avoiding interference with evidence or the investigation.

Immediate Defense Strategy

When a company owner is detained in a Turkish customs smuggling investigation, the defense should immediately identify the suspected offense, obtain available detention and search records, secure access to legal counsel and interpretation where needed, protect the accuracy of any statement, determine what goods and digital evidence were seized, reconstruct the disputed customs transaction, preserve company records, identify the roles of the owner, employees, supplier and customs broker, review the underlying classification, valuation or origin issue, and coordinate the customs and criminal defense strategies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does being the owner of the importing company automatically make someone criminally liable?

No. Personal criminal responsibility requires examination of the individual’s own conduct and the elements of the alleged offense. Ownership alone does not establish that the person knowingly participated in the alleged customs misconduct.

Should the owner give a detailed police statement immediately?

The owner should first understand the allegation and their procedural rights. A customs smuggling investigation can involve technically complex issues that should not be answered through guesswork.

Can a foreign owner request an interpreter?

A foreign suspect who cannot adequately understand the proceedings should make the language problem clear immediately so that applicable interpretation rights can be protected.

Can the owner refuse to answer questions?

A suspect has the right not to make self-incriminating statements under Turkish criminal procedure.

Can company computers and phones be seized?

Digital devices may become subject to investigative measures where the applicable legal requirements are satisfied. The scope and legality of the measure should be reviewed.

What if the customs broker made the incorrect declaration?

The broker’s conduct is relevant but does not automatically determine the owner’s liability. Authorities should examine what information the company supplied, who made the relevant decisions and whether the owner personally participated.

Can an incorrect tariff code amount to smuggling?

A classification error should not automatically be equated with criminal smuggling. The specific conduct, applicable customs rules and criminal-law requirements must be analyzed.

Can the owner be released while the investigation continues?

Yes. Release does not necessarily end the investigation. Depending on the circumstances, proceedings may continue with or without judicial-control measures.

Can seized company property be recovered?

Potentially. The legal basis and continued necessity of the seizure should be examined, and available return or challenge procedures should be considered.

What is the most important defense issue?

Separate the company’s customs problem from the owner’s personal criminal responsibility. The prosecution should establish the individual’s own knowledge, conduct and involvement rather than infer criminal liability merely from ownership or managerial status.

Client-Focused Legal Support for Customs Smuggling Investigations in Turkey

A customs smuggling investigation involving a foreign company owner can simultaneously create detention risk, criminal prosecution, customs penalties, seizure of goods, digital-evidence disputes, asset restrictions and serious disruption to business operations. Fırat Fesih Kaya Law Office assists foreign investors, company owners, directors and international businesses facing customs-related criminal investigations in Turkey. Lawyer Fırat Fesih Kaya provides legal assistance in detention and statement procedures, customs smuggling allegations, search and seizure disputes, customs valuation and origin cases, coordination of administrative and criminal proceedings, return of seized property and defense before the competent authorities and courts.

Phone:
+90 312 434 22 22

Mobile:
+90 532 769 22 22

Email:
info@firatfesihkaya.av.tr

Address:
Mevlana Boulevard No:221, Yıldırım Tower, Office No:148
06520 Balgat, Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey