Ministry has closed corruption files from the AKP era of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality!

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) has seen a notable development regarding 36 corruption files prepared concerning the period when it was governed by the AKP.

MINISTRY HAD SEIZED 36 FILES

The 36 files, prepared as part of a corruption investigation initiated by the İBB Inspection Board and revealing a public loss of 30 billion TL, were seized by the Ministry of Interior in December 2020. The files were transferred to the Ministry of Interior inspectors on January 12, 2021.

5 FILES HAVE BEEN CLOSED!

According to the report by İsmail Arı from Birgün; it has now emerged that five of the 36 files seized by the Ministry of Interior have been closed. A decision of “non-prosecution” regarding the corruption files was issued with the signature of former Interior Minister and AKP Istanbul Deputy Süleyman Soylu. The İBB appealed to the Council of State against the Ministry's decision bearing Soylu's signature. The Ministry of Interior remains silent regarding the 31 other corruption files, despite three years having passed.

BILLION-LIRA CORRUPTION

The contents of the five corruption files that Soylu closed are as follows:

• “A total expenditure of 847 million 592 thousand TL was made under the names of transportation, materials, food and beverage, maintenance and repair, renovation, land allocation, accommodation, personnel support, rental fees, IT equipment, projects, and promotional media for certain foundations, associations, schools, and sports halls. In this context, the water, electricity, and natural gas bills of the 15 July Association and Bilal Erdoğan’s Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA) were also paid by the İBB.
• İBB subsidiary KİPTAŞ built a building for TÜGVA in 2015.
• The İBB incurred a loss of approximately 11 billion TL due to incorrect decisions in rail system construction works and operations.
• Regarding the transformation of shanty houses in the Çamlıtepe (Derbent) neighborhood of Sarıyer District, the then-İBB Real Estate Management Department Head Yusuf Koç, İBB Menken Manager Mehmet Kahveci, Rapporteur İlke Kandemir, Chief Barış Çiçek, and Control Supervisor Mustafa Çiçek signed off on public losses.
• Corruption was committed during the fire truck procurement process of the Fire Department.”

SEIZED IRREGULARLY

İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, in a statement made after the corruption files were seized, had said, “The Ministry has taken these files from us in an irregular manner. Such a practice has not been done before. They took them and tried to suppress them. We will analyze each one. Each one is under our follow-up. We are not taking our eyes off those files in any way; we are following them.”

FILES HAVE BEEN AT THE MINISTRY FOR 3 YEARS

Some of the 31 corruption files that have been waiting at the Ministry of Interior for three years are as follows:

• Dinners organized by the İBB company Beltur A.Ş. for AKP organizations and the sandwiches distributed.
• Dinner organizations held with descriptions such as “Rally, Ak Party Group, Mr. Binali, Mr. Binali’s bodyguards.”
• The former amusement park land purchased for 429.7 million from Metal Yapı Konut, a partner of Ömer Faruk Kavurmacı, the son-in-law of former İBB Mayor Kadir Topbaş, who was released after being detained in the FETÖ case.
• During the AKP era, a private plot of land in Başakşehir with a “military strategic area” function, where not even a nail could be driven, was purchased for 41.2 million lira.
• Millions of liras in losses incurred with the helicopter purchased by the İBB company Metro İstanbul A.Ş. in 2012.
• The İBB purchased risky structures that were in an unusable state from the Fatih Science and Culture Foundation by paying 10.3 million lira.

News Source: 12punto