Özgür Özel responds to Özkan Yalım's 'I gave money and a vehicle' claim
The claim by Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım—who was expelled from the CHP and arrested on charges of "bribery," "extortion," and "rigging a tender"—that he provided financial and vehicle support to CHP Chairman Özgür Özel in his statement under the effective remorse law has sparked debate in the political arena. Özel denied the allegations, stating that all payments regarding the vehicle in question were made by the party and that no personal gain was obtained.
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Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım, who was arrested on charges of bribery, extortion, and rigging a tender and subsequently expelled from the CHP, has provided a statement under the effective remorse law.
In his 5-page statement, Yalım alleged that he gave money and a vehicle to CHP Chairman Özgür Özel before the party convention.
Yalım stated the following in his testimony:
“I gave money to Özgür Özel, who was the CHP group chairman at the time, in the amounts of 200,000 TL and 1 million TL in cash.
I took the 200,000 TL in cash to Özgür Özel's house in Manisa. As I approached the house, I called Özgür Özel via WhatsApp. He told me to leave the money in a bag on the garden wall of the house.
I did as he said, leaving the 200,000 TL in a bag on the garden wall for Özgür Özel to pick up, and then I left.
I delivered the 1 million TL in cash to a person named Demirkan, whom I knew to be a close friend of Özgür Özel, in a bag near the CHP provincial headquarters building in Denizli, upon the instructions of Özgür Özel.”
ÖZEL'S RESPONSE TO YALIM'S ALLEGATIONS
CHP leader Özgür Özel responded to Yalım's claims.
Speaking on Sözcü TV, Özel said:
"It is claimed that 'The Uşak Municipality bought us a VIP vehicle'; however, it has turned out that all of these are lies. In the end, we paid for both the invoice of the vehicle and the cost of its accessories. The process was carried out with the suggestion, 'Oh brother, this place does the best work on the vehicle; let me have the vehicle done for you here, this place is good.' Özkan Yalım has 300 Mercedes trucks and has a special discount at Mercedes. He helped secure a discount when the car was being purchased for the party; thus, the money paid by the party and the state was protected.
There may be some additions made to the interior of the car, but there is nothing that has gone into my personal pocket. Ultimately, whether the party made this payment with money received from the state under the supervision of the Constitutional Court or in another way, it is the same. Nevertheless, we have conducted extensive correspondence against the possibility of any contrary situation; we have written to the firm and everywhere else. If there is any public loss, it will be covered; in the end, it is just taking from one pocket of the state and putting it into the other."