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Abidin Cevher Özden, (b. 1933 in Trabzon, Turkey - d. 2 June 2008 in İstanbul) was a Turkish banker and businessman who, in 1981-1982, was at the origin of Turkey's biggest banking scandal to date. Both the chain of events during the scandal and himself are better known under the name of his banker's company at the time, that is, as Banker Kastelli, referring to the village near Sürmene, a town of Trabzon, where he was born. Current name of this village is Baştımar and was now Mahno, which was derived from Mah-i New (New Moon in Persian)^[1]

Cevher Özden led a successful and respected business life as a stock exchange agent instruments for more than three decades, until he was caught, as many others, in the turbulence of the new economic climate created by the monetary reforms pushed forward by the then Deputy Prime Minister Turgut Özal.^[2] He founded the company Banker Kastelli in 1980 and became the exclusive marketing agent for ten different banks. Before the end of the year, his business reached a scope where he controlled approximately 2.5 billion US Dollars worth of deposits entrusted by about 550 thousand people, and he attained much fame and notoriety. His use of these funds for his own investment operations led to Özden's being put under pressure before long, both by the banks and his customers. New measures on monetary surveillance adopted by the Central Bank of Turkey in the summer of 1982 caused Özden to flee in panic to Switzerland. One of the direct consequences of his abrupt disappearance from the market was the demission of Özal from his post in the cabinet. He committed suicide in 2 June 2008 due to lack of money.

Cevher Özden

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