Look who turned out to be awarding tenders to Aziz İhsan Aktaş!

The cleaning and vehicle rental tenders conducted by the Elazığ Municipality between 2014 and 2024 were examined by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. According to the expert report, the vast majority of these tenders were carried out using the negotiated procedure. The report revealed that the estimated costs were not calculated in accordance with the legislation and that there were serious deficiencies in the tender files.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TENDERS AND THE AKP MKYK MEMBER

Another striking finding of the report is that most of these tenders were awarded to the company of Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who provided testimony to the prosecutor's office under the effective remorse law in connection with operations targeting CHP-run municipalities. Aziz İhsan Aktaş's company, Barka Atık Yönetimi Taşımacılık, was the winning firm in the majority of Elazığ Municipality's cleaning and vehicle rental tenders. Furthermore, most of the tenders were approved by Mücahit Yanılmaz, who served as mayor between 2014 and 2019 and is currently a substitute member of the AKP Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK).

The expert report stated that the cleaning tender of the Elazığ Municipality dated August 13, 2014, was conducted via the negotiated procedure, but that the open tender process was canceled and replaced by the negotiated procedure. It could not be clearly determined which market data the estimated cost calculations for the tender were based on. Additionally, it was determined that in another cleaning tender dated December 12, 2014, only a few firms were invited in a similar manner, and the bid letters were not present in the file.

The expert report also states that vehicle rental tenders held in 2019 and 2021 were examined. While the tender held in 2019 with an estimated cost of approximately 64.5 million TL was conducted using the open procedure, it was reported that only one firm submitted a bid for another vehicle rental tender in 2021. It was also noted that documents were missing from the file of another vehicle rental tender in the same year.

LIMITED COMPETITION IN FIRST-DEGREE TENDERS

The expert report stated that the estimated cost of a vehicle rental tender dated May 7, 2024, was 761 million TL, but only two bids were considered valid. This tender was concluded with a price of 539 million TL. The report emphasized that the estimated cost is of vital importance in ensuring competition and using public resources effectively in such large-scale tenders.

In the expert report, it was assessed that the estimated costs used in the tender process were not in compliance with the legislation and that these costs were "made to look as if they had been prepared." Citing the Public Procurement Law, it was recalled that the estimated cost must be based on price data collected from more than one source. However, according to the report, these conditions were not met in most of the tenders.

UMUT AKDOĞAN: IS THE NEGOTIATED PROCEDURE A WAY TO DELIVER TO A SPECIFIC ADDRESS?

CHP Ankara MP Umut Akdoğan drew attention to the Ministry of Treasury and Finance's expert report and questioned why the negotiated procedure was used so frequently in the Elazığ Municipality's cleaning and vehicle rental tenders. Akdoğan said, "Doesn't the negotiated procedure mean delivery to a specific address? The fact that the estimated cost is calculated in violation of the legislation in tenders conducted this way is another separate problem." He also stated that it was noteworthy that most of these tenders were awarded to Aziz İhsan Aktaş's company.

CHP MP DRAWS ATTENTION TO THE ROLE OF AKP FIGURES

Umut Akdoğan pointed out that the former mayors who approved the tenders, Mücahit Yanılmaz and Şahin Şerifoğulları, are members of the AKP MKYK, and asked, "Doesn't the fact that these tenders were carried out with the approval of AKP figures raise suspicions?" He also stated that no steps were taken in the operations targeting CHP mayors, expressing that this is the "law of the superior" rather than the "superiority of the law."