GEORGE NEWS - An alleged con man's magic carpet ride ended with a long drive back to George in the back of a police van after he was arrested in Port Elizabeth last week.
Tarkan Cakmak (46), who allegedly conned Gallery 7 in the Eden Meander mall out of Persian carpets to the value of R300 000 on Saturday 28 May, was arrested by the investigating officer Jydrean Heathcote at his own carpet business in Greenacres Shopping Centre last Wednesday.
It is alleged that Cakmak took four Persian rugs on consignment at Gallery 7 as he first wanted to see if they suited his house in Sands Road in Wilderness. According to store manager, Lettie Kumm, Cakmak told her that he wanted to purchase three rugs for his wedding anniversary and he wanted to surprise his wife.
Another employee of Gallery 7 accompanied the suspect to the said address in his black Mercedes Benz with an EC-registration number. When they stopped next to the house, the employee was told to get out of the car, after which the suspect made a U-turn, drove off and never returned.
Gallery 7's owner, Nurullah Isparta, earlier told the George Herald that he had sent the photos of the suspect to several businesses in the country in an effort to find him and that two businesses from Paarl and Somerset West respectively have contacted him stating the man in the photos also conned them. According to Captain Khunjalwa Sam from the Conville Police the suspect's photographs was circulated through the country and they soon received information that the suspect was in Johannesburg.
"We later again received information that he is in Port Elizabeth and that he owns a carpet shop in Greenacres. The nearest police station was contacted to verify the information and it was confirmed," says Sam. The carpets were recovered by the police and stored as evidence.
Cakmak appeared in the Thembalethu Magistrate's court on Friday (17 June) and was released on R10 000 bail. He was ordered to report to the Mount Road Police Station once a week and handed in his passport as part of his bail conditions.
The case was postponed to 20 July.
Tarkan Cakmak’s version
In an interesting twist, the George Herald received a lawyer’s letter on Tuesday demanding that the CCTV footage/video on You Tube showing Cakmak inside Eden Meander be removed.
In an interesting twist, the George Herald received a lawyer’s letter on Tuesday demanding that the CCTV footage/video on You Tube showing Cakmak inside Eden Meander be removed.
The letter, written on behalf of Cakmak by Stuart Laubscher Attorneys in Port Elizabeth, states that “If this is not done by 16:00 today (21 June), we have instructions to approach the High Court on an urgent basis for the removal of the video. Furthermore, our client reserves his rights to take whatever steps are necessary to recover any damages suffered as a result of this defamatory video.”
The attorneys write that Cakmak is a “respected business man” with five carpet shops in South Africa of which two are in Port Elizabeth. They claim that their client went to the carpet shop in Eden Meander to see if it belonged to “a Mr Noorallah (sic), a carpet salesman well known to him. Our clients took photos and WhatsApp’ed them to the supplier. Noorallah owes our client’s main supplier R4.5 million and the supplier wanted to see what Noorallah was busy with, as he is in the process of trying to recover the outstanding debt owed to him by Noorallah.
“Furthermore, our client worked for Noorallah for three years, so it is inconceivable that Noorallah did not recognise our client, despite this, he posted pictures of our client with the rubric ‘do you know this thief’.
“The day after the visit to photograph the shop, our client entered the shop and purchased four carpets from the shop for
R25 000 in cash.
“At no stage did our client ‘con’ anyone at the shop, any suggestion otherwise is defamatory to our client and detrimental to his good name and reputation.”
Nurullah Isparta responds
A legal firm in Pretoria, du Pre Le Roux Attorneys acting on behalf of Nurullah Isparta, reacted to Cakmac’s allegations via e-mail.
With regard to the explanation that Cakman gave about the photos that he took, Trish du Pre Le Roux states: “Mr Tarkan Cakmak’s motives are unknown to our client. It however subsequently appeared that his apparent intent was to defraud our client the following day for which actions Mr Tarkan Cakmak was arrested and has been charged by the SAPS.”
In regard to the alleged debt of R4.5 million she writes: “The allegations made in this paragraph are untrue and are accordingly denied. Furthermore the allegations are defamatory of our client and this will be taken up with the attorneys directly.”
Du Pre Le Roux admits that Cakmak was employed by her client very long ago. “It is correct that Mr Tarkan Cakmak was employed by our client quite some time ago. Mr Cakmak was dismissed in 1997, some 19 years ago, for dubious actions in the workplace.
“It is further recorded that our client was not present in George when these incidents occurred and he only became aware thereof and the identity of Mr Tarkan Cakmak after the SAPS became involved.
“The photograph of Mr Cakmak was forwarded to other carpet dealers known to our client by way of Whatsapp in order to warn them to take heed when doing business with Mr Cakmak after the incident on 28 May 2016 for which Mr Cakmak was arrested and charged by the SAPS as previously referred to.”
Du Pre Le Roux said the carpets were taken on consignment. “It is further denied that any payment was received from Mr Cakmak in cash or otherwise.”
The store manager, Lettie Kumm told the George Herald that Cakmak did not pay for the carpets and showed George Herald signed documentation that she said proves that “Cakmak took the carpets on appro”.
The George Herald does not believe that the footage in question is defamatory as alleged by Cakmak. As an act of goodwill and pending the outcome of the court case, we did however remove the video from YouTube.
ARTICLE: LIZETTE DA SILVA, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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