Privatization at museums cuts down on fraud, Turkish minister says

ANKARA – Radikal

Privatizing the ticket booths at Istanbul’s museums has led to a 40 percent increase in revenue due to a sharp reduction in embezzlement, according to Turkey’s culture minister.

“That [40 percent in revenues] was landing in some people’s pockets,” Minister Ertuğrul Günay said recently.

Thanks to the November 2010 privatization, the ministry now expects to reap 60 million Turkish Liras in profits from Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum and Topkapı Palace alone.

It is alleged that prior to the privatization, toll collectors were able to make private purchases that were not commensurate with their official wages, attended sex parties abroad and gambled in northern Cyprus.

In many of the cases of alleged embezzlement, toll collectors used museum cards to gain illicit income. Visitors entering a museum with a museum card have the right to re-enter within three hours; even though foreign visitors are not permitted to use museum cards, collectors would often use them to allow foreign visitors to pass.

In one case in 2010, tourists were let into Topkapı Palace with tickets that were sold by the officer, but with their barcodes hidden. The visitors were able to pass the turnstile easily because the officer had several museum cards attached to his body inside his clothes and the turnstile mechanism was able to detect the cards from a distance through the slightest of movements by the ticket attendant. Unsuspecting tourists would hand over their tickets that were then resold at the ticket booth since they were not recorded.

Several court cases opened by the ministry against those suspected of embezzlement are continuing

via Privatization at museums cuts down on fraud, Turkish minister says – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review.