New statement from the SSI regarding ABB's debts

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has written a memorandum to the Ministry of Interior to investigate allegations of irregularities in the concert expenditures of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (ABB).

According to the information obtained, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office wrote a memorandum to the Ministry of Interior Inspection Board for the necessary examination following allegations that irregularities were committed in ABB's concert expenditures. It was learned that if an investigation permit is granted under Law No. 4483 as a result of the Inspection Board's examination, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office will initiate a judicial investigation.

A statement also came from the SSI regarding the debts of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality. 

The statement made by the SSI is as follows: 

As the Social Security Institution (SSI), collecting premiums that must be deducted from workers' earnings and deposited into the SSI is a legal obligation, and with these premium revenues we collect, we pay the pensions of our retirees and cover the healthcare expenses of our citizens.

While collecting premium revenues, the SSI maintains an equal stance towards all debtors without discriminating between any institution or person. Therefore, the process of tracking premium debts by the SSI cannot be evaluated as a “political attack.”

Our goal as an institution is the collection of premium debts that have accumulated and reached an unsustainable level. A need has arisen to make a public statement regarding the premium debts of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality to the SSI, which has come to the agenda.

The debt of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality to the SSI has risen from 4.5 billion liras in the last seven months to 8.4 billion TL as of August 2024, and to 8.8 billion liras as of September 2024.

The attempt made by the municipality to defer debts according to Article 48/A of Law No. 6183 is legally invalid as it does not meet the conditions specified in the law. The aforementioned article is applied exceptionally to taxpayers who are in financial difficulty and whose debt maturity has not exceeded one year, and to date, no deferral process has been carried out under this article for any municipality, including municipalities in the earthquake zone.

In accordance with Article 48 of Law No. 6183, in order to make a deferral application, there is a requirement to pay 10% of the debt in advance and to provide collateral for 50% of the remaining debt. However, because there are numerous liens on the real estate properties shown as collateral by the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, these assets could not legally serve as valid collateral. Therefore, this transaction became invalid and could not even reach the stage of an application to be evaluated by the SSI Board of Directors. Despite knowing the legal requirements, providing real estate properties with liens on them as collateral is far from a good-faith approach.

The claim made by the Mayor of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality that a mutual agreement was reached with the SSI does not reflect the truth. There is no “mutual agreement method” in our legislation or among the ways of paying debts. No such agreement has been made by our institution.

As the SSI, we are saddened that the processes related to fulfilling our legal responsibility are being drawn into the focus of political debates.

News Source: 12punto