New development in the IMM tender scandal! Witness Taşkapan's testimony revealed
In the "corruption" investigation conducted into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), lawyer Gökhan Taşkapan, who testified as a witness, alleged that money obtained from municipal bus maintenance tenders was laundered by being transferred to a company that did not actually exist. The investigation includes accusations against IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and 99 other suspects.
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The investigation initiated by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was removed from his post as IMM Mayor following his arrest, and 99 suspects for the crimes of "being a manager of a criminal organization," "being a member of a criminal organization," "extortion," "bribery," "qualified fraud," "unlawful acquisition of personal data," and "rigging a tender" is ongoing.
THE OWNER OF THE OFFICE SPOKE
Within the scope of the investigation, the testimony of lawyer Gökhan Taşkapan, the owner of the office where the footage of counting money related to the purchase of the CHP Istanbul Provincial building was allegedly filmed, was obtained as a witness.
When asked by the prosecutor's office, "Explain what you know about the corruption operation currently on the agenda," Taşkapan stated the following:
"Tenders held by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the main subject of which is the maintenance of municipal buses, and some other tenders, are awarded to the company named Şimşek Oto, owned by Yılmaz Şimşek and Erkan Şimşek, who are the brothers of a person named Fikret Şimşek, under the direction of a person named Özgür Karabat and the organization of his brother Devrim Karabat. On paper, such a company exists, but in practice, it does not. The amounts earned from the tenders received from the Metropolitan Municipality are laundered by being transferred to this company named Şimşek Oto."
The witness explained the following in the continuation of his testimony:
"In addition, they established a separate cooperative in the Silivri Çatalca region with 60 parcels, each worth 40 thousand dollars, and transferred a portion of the tender money there. They also transferred a portion of the money to a cooperative called SS İkitelli Silivri Collective Workplace Construction Cooperative, which has a total of 250 shares, each worth 110 thousand dollars. They transferred another portion to the Sefaköy Collective Building Cooperative, which is 200 dönüms and worth 200 million liras."
"According to the information I have obtained, the details of the cooperatives to which the income obtained from the tenders I mentioned is transferred are as follows. The first is the SS Silivri Sefaköy Collective Housing Construction Cooperative, located in Istanbul Silivri Büyükçavuşlu and Küçükçavuşlu, covering 234 thousand 400 square meters, and the second is the SS İkitelli Silivri Collective Workplace Construction Cooperative, located in Silivri Balaban, covering 434 dönüms. Furthermore, as far as I know, the apartments these individuals acquired after 2023 and the money in their accounts are funds coming from the tenders; this is all I know for now."