Breaking News: Operation at CHP-run Üsküdar Municipality! 20 people detained

An operation was conducted at the Üsküdar Municipality as part of an investigation carried out by the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into allegations of irregularities and bribery in licensing procedures.

Simultaneous operations were carried out at 30 addresses, and 20 people were detained. A large amount of digital material was seized.

It was learned that police teams conducted a search at the municipal building.

NAMES OF THOSE DETAINED HAVE BEEN REVEALED

FİLİZ DEVECİ - DEPUTY MAYOR

NAZIM AKKOYUNLU - KENT A.Ş. GENERAL MANAGER

BARKIN EGE TEKKÖKOĞLU - KENT A.Ş. ARCHITECT

ÖZGÜR CEYLAN - KENT A.Ş. ARCHITECT

HAKAN YAVUZ - CONSTRUCTION CONTROL FIELD SUPERVISOR

AHMET İŞMAN - EXPEDITOR

VEYSEL KÖSE - EXPEDITOR

CEYHAN HAN - EXPEDITOR

BURÇİN ÇEVİK - EXPEDITOR

YASİN KARABAŞ - EXPEDITOR

ENGİN ARAZ - CONTRACTOR

SİNAN SARIOĞLU - CONTRACTOR

KADİR KARADAĞ - CONTRACTOR

UFUK GÜNDÜZ - CONTRACTOR

EYÜP MERİÇ - CONTRACTOR

MURAT ARMAĞAN - CONTRACTOR

HAKAN MANSIZ - CONTRACTOR

ERDEM ALKAN - CONTRACTOR

YILMAZ KOZAN - CONTRACTOR

MEHMET ATİLLA GÜNERİ - CONTRACTOR

STATEMENT FROM THE CHIEF PUBLIC PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

In a statement regarding the operation made by the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the following was noted:

"As a result of the work carried out by the Istanbul Provincial Police Department's Anti-Financial Crimes Branch under the coordination of the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Special Investigation Bureau within the scope of the investigation;

It was determined through data reflected in open sources that an office was allocated within the Üsküdar municipal building to the General Manager of Kent A.Ş. (N.A.), a municipal subsidiary, between the Department of Zoning and Urbanization and the Department of Construction Control, which are the units where building permits and occupancy permits are issued, and that the individual also used the title of 'deputy mayor' on their office nameplate; furthermore, it was determined that the Kent A.Ş. General Manager (N.A.) was introduced and presented as a deputy mayor at numerous official organizations and programs,

That illegal income was obtained from contractors during the building permit process by using the Üsküdar Municipality subsidiary Kent A.Ş. as a front for services that were not actually provided and for which it had no duty or authority,

That although the responsible municipal unit for building permits is the Department of Zoning and Urbanization, negotiations regarding the issuance of building permits took place between contractors and the Üsküdar Municipality subsidiary Kent A.Ş.; that despite having no authority, Kent A.Ş. officials audited the staff of the Department of Zoning and Urbanization during the building permit issuance process; that in order to learn which applications the Department of Zoning and Urbanization would advance and which would be suspended, an Excel table was created using a coded, closed-circuit communication network with color-coding based on island and parcel, and that transactions were advanced or not processed by the authorized unit, the Üsküdar Municipality Department of Zoning and Urbanization, according to the color-coding of the relevant row in the email corresponding to the contractor's island and parcel,

That in the Excel list within the email, which is a crypto and closed-circuit communication network between Kent A.Ş. and the Üsküdar Municipality Department of Zoning and Urbanization, each row containing island and parcel information was color-coded as blue, red, green, and orange, and in accordance with the communication network coded according to the coloring method;

''Blue'' meant that an agreement had been reached and the work should be carried out,

''Red'' meant that an agreement could not be reached and the work should not be carried out,

''Green'' meant that no meeting had taken place yet and the work should not be carried out,

''Orange'' meant that a meeting had been held with the relevant party but the work had not been formalized, and that it could proceed if a new instruction was given; that in line with these points, building permits were issued by processing transactions based on the coloring made according to whether the requested amount was deposited or not, rather than according to the architectural project,

That although the unit responsible for issuing the occupancy permit (building usage permit) is the Üsküdar Municipality Department of Construction Control, decisions on what benefits would be requested from contractors and in what manner for the occupancy permit were made in meetings chaired by Kent A.Ş. General Manager (N.A.), and that the Üsküdar Deputy Mayor (F.D.), who approves occupancy permits, also attended these meetings,

That engineers working at the Üsküdar Municipality conducted inspections of constructions undergoing the occupancy permit process, identified non-compliances with regulations as a result of these inspections, and that digital data regarding these findings (including images of the buildings) were presented by the manager and technical team in the Department of Construction Control to (N.A.) for evaluation in meetings, and that this evaluation was carried out by holding meetings in the office allocated to (N.A.) inside the Üsküdar Municipality building, and that Üsküdar Deputy Mayor (F.D.) also attended this meeting,

That officials in the Department of Construction Control decided in these meetings how much benefit would be requested from contractors in exchange for an occupancy permit, taking into account the nature of the non-compliance of each construction and the value of the location where the construction was built in square meters, and that it was also decided in this meeting how the contractor would provide the benefit; that in line with the decision of (N.A.) and (F.D.), the relevant contractor was invited to the Department of Construction Control and a demand for benefit was made from them or their expeditor in accordance with the decision taken at the meeting in exchange for the occupancy permit; within the scope of the investigation conducted into these allegations,

Simultaneous search, seizure, and detention operations were carried out on 07.04.2026 at a total of 30 addresses in 2 provinces, namely Istanbul (19) and Yalova (1), regarding acts constituting the crime of bribery related to the aforementioned irregularities in the issuance of building permits and occupancy permits at the Üsküdar Municipality, and in this context, a total of 20 suspects were apprehended and detained, and a large amount of digital material was seized.

Our Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office will continue its investigations, which are carried out with the aim of combating crimes against the reliability and functioning of Public Administration, as in all types of crimes, with meticulousness and determination."

News Source: 12punto