Spain, Portugal, Albania... Overseas trips organized with municipal budgets

The trend of politicians taking overseas trips on municipal budgets continues.

According to a report by İsmail Arı from BirGün, based on information in the Public Procurement Bulletin, the AKP-run Çekmeköy Municipality in Istanbul held a tender on August 9 to organize a trip to Albania under the name of a "technical and inspection visit." 

THE AMOUNT TO BE SPENT IS UNCLEAR

The tender, conducted via the negotiated procedure, was awarded to Bilir Turizm ve Danışmanlık Anonim Şirketi for 1 million 435 thousand TL. The owner of the company that won the tender for the trip, which some CHP council members also attended, is Ali Bilir, who ran in the local government elections on March 28, 2004, and was elected as a council member for Beykoz Municipality and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB). He was subsequently appointed as the Deputy Mayor of Beykoz and was an AKP parliamentary candidate nominee in the 2011 general elections. The AKP-run Bahçelievler Municipality in Istanbul also organized a trip to Spain. It was learned that the trip, which began on October 19, would end on October 23, and that Mayor Hakan Bahadır as well as many CHP council members participated in the trip. The expenditure for the trip, which was attended by approximately 40 people, has not been disclosed. 

It was also learned that the AKP-run Güngören Municipality will organize a trip to Spain in the coming weeks and that CHP council members have again signed up to participate in the trip.

The CHP-run Küçükçekmece Municipality also organized a trip to Spain and Portugal under the name of a "technical inspection program." The 1 million 370 thousand TL tender for the trip, which was conducted via the negotiated procedure, was again awarded to Bilir Turizm ve Danışmanlık Anonim Şirketi, owned by the AKP's Ali Bilir.

News Source: 12punto