Bribery accusation against MHP MP İzzet Ulvi Yönter's brother: Up to 16 years in prison requested

Stating that the prosecutor's office is seeking a prison sentence of 6 to 16 years for the brother of MHP Deputy Chairman Yönter on charges of "accepting bribes and influencing those performing judicial duties," Şardan shared the following information in his article on T24, noting that he had received a new file last week:

"The most important part of the file is a judicial investigation document. The importance of the document stems from the fact that it is also a prosecutor's indictment.

The 10-page indictment prepared by the Bilecik Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is dated May 2022. Its reference number is 2022/84.

There are six defendants in the indictment. For three of the defendants, the charges are 'acting as an expert witness or interpreter contrary to the truth,' for two, 'giving bribes,' and for one, 'accepting bribes and influencing those performing judicial duties.'

While five of the six defendants are not widely known to the public, the sixth defendant stands out due to his identity.

The defendant, Aytekin Yönter, who is being tried on charges of 'accepting bribes and influencing those performing judicial duties,' is also the brother of MHP Istanbul MP and Deputy Chairman İzzet Ulvi Yönter.

The prosecutor has requested a prison sentence of 6 to 16 years for Aytekin Yönter, who currently continues to serve as the Director of the Bilecik Handicrafts Training Center.

THE DETAILS OF THE INDICTMENT ARE AS FOLLOWS

In a petition submitted to the Söğüt Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in February 2022, A.Ç.İ., a lawyer for the MHP-run municipality in Bilecik's Söğüt district, alleged that Alptekin Yörükoğlu, who serves as the Litigation Manager at the Bilecik Defterdarlık (Provincial Finance Office), had demanded a bribe.

Municipal employee A.Ç.İ. claimed in his petition that Yörükoğlu had attempted to reduce the value of real estate in two separate files pending at the Söğüt Civil Court of First Instance regarding an expropriation to be carried out in favor of the municipality, from 10 million liras to 2 million liras, through an expert witness.

Noting that Yörükoğlu demanded 450,000 liras for this attempt, the complainant submitted a video recording of the alleged incident and records of conversations held via the WhatsApp communication system on mobile phones to the prosecutor's office.

PHYSICAL SURVEILLANCE INITIATED

Following the allegation, the prosecutor's office issued a decision for phone tapping and physical surveillance of Litigation Manager Yörükoğlu in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CMK).

According to the indictment, an important development occurred during the secret wiretapping and surveillance operations conducted by the prosecutor's office on February 14, 2022, at around 18:00.

Burhan Kök, an employee at the Söğüt Courthouse, called I.G., one of the courthouse bailiffs, and said that he had delivered the expert report prepared within the framework of the expropriation process to the courthouse.

Immediately afterward, courthouse employee Kök called Aytekin Yönter, who is also the brother of MHP Deputy Chairman İzzet Ulvi Yönter, and informed him that he had delivered the expert report.

Continuing the investigation, the prosecutor's office determined that Yörükoğlu would meet with municipal lawyer A.Ç.İ. on the day of the hearing at the court where the expert report was submitted, and that the bribe would be handed over in person.

Let me add a note; as you can see, a state official demanded a bribe from the municipality to 'solve a problem' and, according to the agreement made, scheduled an appointment with a municipal employee to receive the bribe in person!

THE SEIZED NOTE

And on May 15, 2022, the day of the hearing, the prosecutor's office took action. At 09:50 in the morning, they ensured that Yörükoğlu was detained while he was receiving the bribe in person from the municipality's lawyer, A.Ç.İ.

During the detention process, a handwritten note was found on Yörükoğlu that read: "150 34 2. 678 square meters, 150 32 3836 square meters, total 6514 square meters, the total value to emerge is around 2 million liras from our perspective, the real market value of this place as of 2022 is 9 million liras, - 600 thousand liras -."

An examination of the mobile phone used by the suspect Alptekin Yörükoğlu revealed that he had called Söğüt District Finance Manager Süleyman Akar and then Aytekin Yönter.

At the same time, it was revealed in the ongoing phone taps that Yörükoğlu told Akar, "I have received it," regarding the delivery of the money, and asked him to pick him up from where he was.

The indictment includes the fact that during the implementation of the prosecutor's office's physical surveillance decision against the suspect, Litigation Manager Yörükoğlu met with Aytekin Yönter in the office of Söğüt District Finance Manager Süleyman Akar regarding the land to be expropriated.

TRIPARTITE EVALUATION

It was determined that Yörükoğlu, Akar, and Yönter made evaluations during the meeting regarding the claim that the then-Söğüt Mayor İsmet Sever would profit from the lands to be expropriated and would build housing there, contrary to the purpose of the expropriation.

It was understood that District Finance Manager Akar called a real estate agent in Söğüt during the same meeting to learn the market value of the expropriated land and then told Aytekin Yönter that this land was very valuable.

Even a joke between Akar and Yönter, "Should we buy an apartment like the Mayor?", was detected.

PHONE CONVERSATIONS IN THE INDICTMENT

According to the indictment, a phone conversation took place between Söğüt Mayor İsmet Sever, who is mentioned as the "informant," and District Finance Manager Süleyman Akar. In this conversation, it was determined that District Finance Manager Akar said that Yörükoğlu and Sever should meet face-to-face.

Although he had no official duty in the expropriation case, Burhan Kök, who prepared the expert report, was repeatedly asked by Yörükoğlu, "When will the expert report be ready?" It was detected in the wiretap that when Kök said, "The square meter price of the lands should be between 120-160 liras," Yörükoğlu directed him by saying, "You write the square meter price as 25 liras here. After all, you will apply an objective value increase."

In the prosecutor's investigation, no evidence was found that the suspects Burhan Kök, Hasan Bingöl, and Abdülmuttalip Karadeniz, who had signatures on the expert report, were involved in the bribery crime.

However, an investigation was conducted against the suspects Burhan Kök, Hasan Bingöl, and Abdülmuttalip Karadeniz on the charge of "preparing an expert report contrary to the truth" on the grounds that they prepared the expert report despite it not being their area of expertise.

600 THOUSAND LIRA BRIBE

According to the indictment, municipal lawyer A.Ç.İ. alleged that Yörükoğlu demanded 600,000 liras to ensure that the price of the land to be expropriated was reduced by 2 million liras.

The municipal lawyer also submitted the recording of his second meeting with Yörükoğlu to the prosecutor's office. In the meeting, it was determined that lawyer A.Ç.İ. said, "Okay, Mr. Mayor will arrange the money," and Yörükoğlu asked, "He will arrange it, it's four hundred and fifty, right?"

When the lawyer asked, "How will I give you the money, how should I deliver it?", Yörükoğlu replied, "Give it to me in cash. In TL." In the same conversation, the lawyer said, "We'll sit in a pastry shop, brother, I'll sit next to you in the pastry shop. I'll leave the bag. I'll pretend I forgot the bag." The phone conversation transcript in the indictment shows Yörükoğlu replied, "Exactly. We are colleagues. I have no fear of you."

Within the framework of the communication detection carried out based on the wiretapping decision the prosecutor's office obtained from the court, Yörükoğlu's words to municipal lawyer A.Ç.İ. in the same conversation were detected: "Let me make a call now and see what the situation is. It's Monday, there are two of them at once, he said he would give it on Monday. Of course, these things can't be done alone. I don't act alone."

PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE SAID YÖNTER ALSO PARTICIPATED IN THE CRIME

The prosecutor's office saw Yörükoğlu's words, "I don't act alone," as proof that the suspect Litigation Manager did not commit the crimes of bribery and acting as an expert witness or interpreter contrary to the truth alone.

With the picture that emerged, the prosecutor's office reached the conclusion that suspects Aytekin Yönter and Süleyman Akar also participated in the crime.

Alptekin Yörükoğlu, who was arrested in the investigation, also gave the names of Aytekin Yönter and Süleyman Akar in his statement.

Yörükoğlu claimed that Aytekin Yönter encouraged him to commit the crime and stated that he said, "If you get the money, you will give 150,000 liras." Yörükoğlu explained why he did not give the names of Aytekin Yönter and Süleyman Akar at first as, "my own safety, I'm burned, let him not be burned, the thought of not selling out my friend."

YÖNTER'S DEFENSE WAS AS FOLLOWS

Let's come to what the most important suspect of the bribery file, Aytekin Yönter, said in his statement.

As included in the indictment; Yönter said in his defense:

"(...) On the morning of February 15, 2022, at 09:50, Alptekin Yörükoğlu called. He said, 'The delivery has arrived.' Since I did not know the expert witnesses, I called expert Burhan repeatedly and asked when the report would be prepared. In addition, I told Burhan, who evaluated that the square meter price should be in the range of 120-160 liras, 'You write the square meter unit price here as 250 liras. After all, you will apply an objective value increase.' On February 14, 2022, Burhan sent me the conclusion part of the expert report he submitted to the Söğüt Courthouse. I sent this photo to Alptekin. However, I did not participate in the bribery crime. (...)"

Prosecutor's evaluation pointed to Yönter!

The prosecutor's office was not satisfied with these explanations from Yönter.

In the indictment, the following evaluation was made about Yönter:

"(...) Although suspect Aytekin had no official connection with the ongoing case, thanks to his relationship with the expert witnesses, expert Burhan Kök submitted the expert report to the file on the date determined and requested by the suspects, and he also tried to direct the expert witness regarding the price,

By learning the approximate price before the report was prepared and transferring this information to suspect Alptekin, and when the entire scope of the file is evaluated as a whole, along with the conversation 'The delivery has arrived' immediately after suspect Alptekin took possession of the money whose serial numbers had been previously recorded, it is evaluated that suspect Aytekin participated directly in the execution of the crime. Although he did not accept the accusation against him in his defenses, it is evaluated that his defenses consist of abstract denial of the crime to escape punishment, as he performed the mentioned actions despite declaring that he suspected Alptekin would provide him with a benefit, and therefore his defenses were not credited.

For the reasons explained, it is evaluated that suspect Aytekin is the principal perpetrator by directly participating in the commission of the crime. It is evaluated that suspect Aytekin also committed the crime of 'attempting to influence a person performing a judicial duty, an expert witness, or a witness,' regulated in Article 277 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) No. 5237, with his actions of calling expert Burhan and meeting face-to-face to provide guidance on calculations and trying to influence him by specifying a direct price. (...)"

The trial, which has been ongoing for more than two years at the High Criminal Court in the Bilecik Courthouse, will continue in September after the judicial recess.