New development in the bribery operation at the CHP-run Büyükçekmece Municipality!

A new development has occurred in the bribery investigation conducted into the Büyükçekmece Municipality, in which 22 suspects were detained on charges of "qualified fraud," "bribery," and "forgery of official documents" by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, which submitted a request to the Istanbul Governor's Office, stated that the 144 villas subject to the investigation, which were listed with a delivery date of April 2024, pose a risk to public safety, especially when considering a potential Istanbul earthquake.

Pointing out that one of the suspect parties is the Municipal Directorate of Zoning and Urbanization, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office requested that the demolition procedures for the structures in question be initiated.

EXPERT EXAMINATION REGARDING BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS

The investigation into bribery allegations at the Büyükçekmece Municipality began after an individual went to the prosecutor's office on December 12 of last year to file a report.

This individual alleged that "no soil surveys were conducted for the ongoing construction projects in the Eskice and Çakmaklı neighborhoods of the district, but they were presented as if they had been; that soil foundations not in compliance with procedures and laws were laid in exchange for bribes; that building inspection firms prepared fake licenses; and that certain officials at the municipality directed contractors to a specific person's firm in exchange for bribes."

In the investigation, after witnesses and the complainant confirmed the allegations, an expert committee was appointed to the case file. The expert committee, which conducted an examination after the documents requested from the municipality were added to the investigation file, carried out an inspection in the designated areas in June 2023. The committee, which had 4 separate drillings performed in the area in Çakmaklı Neighborhood, encountered sand and coal in the soil.

While the experts determined that although the firm claimed to have had 64 separate drillings performed, some drilling photos were taken from different angles and were the same frames, they also established that a report was prepared stating that no sand or coal was encountered in the drillings and that there was clay in the soil.

CONSTRUCTION LICENSES APPROVED WITHOUT PROCEDURES REQUIRED BY LAW

The experts, who also determined that items such as vertical injection and bored piles, which should have been carried out in the area in Eskice Neighborhood as required by procedure and legislation, were not performed, but that the municipality, soil survey firms, and building inspection firms prepared fake reports, recorded in their minutes that the values shown in the documents regarding the projects did not match the results of the laboratory tests they had commissioned.

Determining that construction licenses were issued and approved without the procedures required by procedure and law, and that after the license approval, many photos taken for soil drilling while construction was ongoing were inserted into the subsequently prepared data reports, the experts prepared an additional report and sent it to the prosecutor's office.

In the investigation, the financial irregularity value of the 144 unlicensed villas in Eskice, which are potentially resistant to a possible earthquake, was calculated at approximately 8 billion 640 million Turkish Lira.

News Source: AA