In an audacious move against the wide-ranging corruption investigation that is threatening his office, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has removed some 350 police officers from their posts in Ankara overnight.

“This is a panic attack by a government acting in haste to prevent further corruption probes,” said Kadri Gursel, a columnist for the Turkish daily newspaper Milliyet.  “By law, the government has no jurisdiction to remove judges or prosecutors, so it is cracking down on the police force, which falls under its authority.”

At least 80 directors and other senior officers in the intelligence, organized crime, fiscal crime and cybercrime units of Ankara’s police force have been demoted to traffic police departments and district police stations.  District police officers from outside Ankara have been brought in to take their places.

Erdogan’s government has previously tried to thwart the investigation by dismissing more than a dozen high-ranking police officials, prompting accusations of interference in the judicial process. 

The investigation involves allegations that officials accepted bribes to bend zoning rules.  It’s ensnared the sons of high ranking cabinet ministers and construction companies with close ties to Erdogan.  Turks have closely followed a series of reports showing photographs of piles of cash in the bedroom of one minister’s home and reports that the chief executive of a state-owned bank had the equivalent of A$5 Million in cash stored in shoeboxes.