Corruption allegations at Beykoz Municipality! Witness testimonies revealed

Some witnesses provided statements as part of the investigation conducted by the Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

"IT WOULD BE PURCHASED FROM WHOMEVER HE SAID"

In his statement regarding Köseler and Beykoz Municipality Private Secretary Veli Gümüş, one witness stated, "Whomever Veli Gümüş said the procurement should be made from, it had to be made from them. He stated repeatedly that whatever price the firm he mentioned gave, the purchase would be made without question. Mayor Alaattin Köseler was aware of all these processes. Gümüş could not have acted this way if he had not been emboldened by him. The architects of the illegalities in these purchasing processes are Köseler and Gümüş."

Another witness alleged that Gümüş and the municipality's driver, Metin Ülgey, had significant influence, that they would call tender officials to ask for prices before tenders were held by different departments, share these prices with the firms they wanted to win the tender, and threaten some tender officials.

Another witness claimed that some firms participated in tender processes as if they were parts of a single holding, and that Köseler was aware of the work Veli Gümüş did and his relationships with other firms.

BEYKOZ INVESTIGATION

The Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had issued arrest, detention, search, and seizure orders for 4 suspects, including Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler, on charges of "rigging tenders," and for 17 suspects on charges of "rigging tenders" and "forming an organization for the purpose of committing crimes, membership, and aiding."

Köseler and 20 suspects were detained on February 27 by teams from the Istanbul Police Department's Anti-Financial Crimes Branch.

The suspects were taken to the Istanbul Police Department's Vatan Campus.

Search and seizure operations were carried out in the early hours of the morning at the Beykoz Municipal building, which was surrounded by police barriers. The teams took some documents from the municipality as evidence and transported them to the police station in bags.

The number of suspects rose to 22 with the detention of one more person as part of the investigation.

The suspects, whose procedures at the police station were completed, were brought to the courthouse after health checks at the hospital.

While 18 suspects, including Köseler, whose statements were completed by the prosecutor's office, were referred to the criminal judgeship of peace with a request for their arrest, judicial control was requested for 4 suspects.

The duty criminal judgeship of peace ruled for the arrest of 13 suspects, including Köseler, and the release of 9 suspects under judicial control conditions.

The Ministry of Interior announced that Köseler had been suspended from duty.