8 more people arrested in IBB operation

The judicial proceedings for 17 suspects, who were detained on charges of "giving bribes," "receiving bribes," and "bid-rigging" as part of an investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, have been completed.

The criminal judgeship of peace decided to arrest suspects Ali Cüneyt Özdemir, Can Karataş, Cengiz Tosun, Deniz Erzincan, Erdinç Karataş, Mehmet Karataş, Murat Timuçin Altıer, and Taylan Çokyiğit. The court ruled for judicial control measures for 9 other suspects.

Following new evidence obtained during the investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into suspects including Ekrem İmamoğlu—who was removed from his post as IBB Mayor following his arrest—on charges of "being a leader of a criminal organization," "being a member of a criminal organization," "extortion," "bribery," "qualified fraud," "unlawful acquisition of personal data," and "bid-rigging," 18 additional suspects had been identified.

An operation was carried out by teams from the Istanbul Financial Crimes Investigation Branch to apprehend the suspects for whom detention warrants were issued on charges of "giving bribes," "receiving bribes," and "bid-rigging," resulting in the detention of 17 suspects.

REFERRAL DOCUMENT FOR 8 PEOPLE ACCESSED

The referral document sent by the prosecutor's office to the criminal judgeship of peace regarding suspects Ali Cüneyt Özdemir, Can Karataş, Cengiz Tosun, Deniz Erzincan, Erdinç Karataş, Mehmet Karataş, Murat Timuçin Altıer, and Taylan Çokyiğit, who were detained and requested to be arrested as part of the investigation, has been accessed.

The document states that suspect Murat Timuçin Altıer is an official of a firm providing consultancy services, and as understood from the sincere statements of Barbaros R. containing details regarding time and location, he paid bribes to Deniz Erzincan, the general manager advisor of the IBB subsidiary Boğaziçi Tesis Yönetim Hizmetleri AŞ, to ensure participation in and to unlawfully secure contracts and works carried out or mediated by this subsidiary.

The document notes that suspect Altıer acted in unity of thought and action with Deniz Erzincan regarding the transactions in question, keeping a portion of the bribe for himself and transferring the rest to Erzincan, and that these matters were established by the statement of Barbaros R.

The document states that there are numerous shared base station records between the suspect and Deniz Erzincan, and therefore, there are reasons indicating strong suspicion of the crime of "bribery" attributed to him.

THEY FACILITATED IRREGULARITIES

The document explains that during his tenure, Deniz Erzincan acted in concert with the company's purchasing personnel, Ali Cüneyt Özdemir, and that whenever there was a need for personnel or staff regarding sites provided with consultancy services by the company, they found the firms that would undertake this work.

The referral document states that Erzincan and Özdemir enabled the aforementioned transactions to be unlawfully awarded to companies owned by Murat Timuçin Altıer and Barbaros R, and includes findings regarding the bribes received in return.

The referral document reports that in the examined account movements of Barbaros R, it was determined that regular payments were made to Altıer with the note "K," meaning "commission," to be delivered to suspect Erzincan, and with the note "S," to indicate "your commission," meaning Altıer's share.

The document emphasizes that Erzincan and Özdemir acted in connection with the criminal organization led by the arrested and removed IBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, and thus, there is strong suspicion that they committed the crime of "being a member of a criminal organization" attributed to them.

The document states that suspect Taylan Çokyiğit played an active role in the delivery of the bribe money and, as understood from account movements and WhatsApp message records, ensured the delivery of the bribe money.

ALLEGATIONS OF RIGGING THE METRO TENDER

The document states that suspects Can Karataş, Mehmet Karataş, and Erdinç Karataş were authorized representatives in a construction contracting firm, while suspect Cengiz Tosun was an authorized representative in a road construction firm.

It was noted that the tender for the construction of the "Kirazlı-Halkalı University Metro" conducted by the IBB Presidency was won by a consortium consisting of the firm Yapı Merkezi and the aforementioned construction contracting and road construction firms.

The document emphasizes that although the bids of the firms participating under a common umbrella in this tender should have been rejected by the tender commission due to the fact that the firm named Yapı Merkezi had a finalized Social Security Institution (SGK) debt as of the tender date, they were allowed to participate in the tender.

Although firm officials claimed that their tender debts were restructured by the Kadıköy Social Security Center, the document states that the debts were not restructured during the period from the tender's execution to its cancellation, and that this group of companies was allowed to participate in the tender irregularly.

The document states that in light of the evidence, it is established that the firm officials who deposited the temporary guarantee for this tender made a bribery agreement with Fatih Keleş, the IBB Sports Club President, who is one of the suspects in the file, and that the fact that the statements given by different individuals all point in the same direction cannot be explained by coincidence in the ordinary flow of life.

Pointing out that the suspects have shared base station records with other suspects in the investigation, Fatih Keleş, IBB Subsidiaries and Affiliated Institutions Commission President Ertan Yıldız, and businessman Adem Soytekin, the document states that there are reasons indicating strong suspicion that the suspects committed the crimes of "bid-rigging" and "bribery" attributed to them.

In this context, the document requested the arrest of the suspects on charges such as "rigging a tender of public institutions or organizations," "giving bribes," "receiving bribes," and "being a member of an organization established to commit crimes."

The suspects' proceedings at the judgeship are expected to begin.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Following new evidence obtained during the investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into suspects including Ekrem İmamoğlu—who was removed from his post as IBB Mayor following his arrest—on charges of "being a leader of a criminal organization," "being a member of a criminal organization," "extortion," "bribery," "qualified fraud," "unlawful acquisition of personal data," and "bid-rigging," 18 additional suspects had been identified.

An operation was carried out by teams from the Istanbul Financial Crimes Investigation Branch to apprehend the suspects for whom detention warrants were issued on charges of "giving bribes," "receiving bribes," and "bid-rigging." 17 suspects were apprehended in the operation.

Of the suspects referred to the courthouse after their procedures at the police station, the arrest of 8 was requested, and judicial control measures were requested for 9.

News Source: 12punto