Cemil Onal Murdered After Alleging Turkish-Armenian Illegal Gambling Links
Samson Martirosyan
Unknown assailants yesterday evening murdered Cemil Önal, the former financial director of Turkish businessman Halil Falyalı, who had spoken out about receiving bribes from several Turkish officials, in a hotel in the city of Rijswijk near The Hague.
A Hetq February 2025 investigation, (Vigen Badalyan’s ‘Turkish Gambit’), included Önal’s allegations that the Armenian businessman had also collaborated with Falyalı and provided software for organizing unlicensed gambling in Turkey.
Badalyan’s legal team denied Önal’s allegations.
Prior to his murder, Önal had warned Dutch authorities that his life was in danger because he had information about bribes given to Turkish politicians by a syndicate allegedly organizing illegal gambling.
Dutch police spokesman Michel Molenaar confirmed that the deceased was Cemil Önal. “The investigation into the circumstances of the murder and the suspect is fully underway. A large investigation team has also been set up for this purpose,” the spokesman said.
The investigative news outlet Follow the Money reports that before the murder, Önal spoke to reporters on Monday and said that an assassination attempt was imminent. Önal’s lawyer told Follow the Money that they had also informed the Dutch authorities about the potential threat.
“The prosecutor’s office has been informed of this serious threat several times,” the lawyer said, requesting anonymity for personal security reasons.
The Dutch prosecutor’s office declined to comment.
Turkish authorities have named Önal as the “mastermind” behind the 2022 murder of Halil Falyalı, a Turkish Cypriot businessman. Falyalı reportedly earned around $80 million a month from illegal gambling.
Önal, a Turkish citizen, told OCCRP reporters that he had nothing to do with Falyalı’s murder.
Önal was Falyalı’s financial director. Önal claimed he made payments of approximately $15 million per month on behalf of Falyalı’s organization to politicians in Turkey and the ruling party in Northern Cyprus.
Dutch police arrested Önal in December 2023 based on an international warrant issued by Turkey. He was fighting extradition to Turkey.
In more than twenty hours of exclusive interviews from prison, Önal provided journalists with unprecedented details about the inner workings of the alleged illegal activities. Read the OCCRP investigation here.
Hetq participated in this international investigation by publishing the above-mentioned article about the connection between Vigen Badalyan and Falyali.
A month after the investigation was published, Önal informed OCCRP that he had been released from prison.
