Istanbul’s former Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, arrested and ousted on charges of corruption, was found to have plunged the municipality into TL 264 billion ($6.94 billion) debt in the six years he helmed the city, according to a report in Turkish newspaper Sabah.
Imamoğlu’s policies have brought the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) into a state where the city, for the first time in its history, cannot borrow any more funds, Sabah’s report said.
The IBB’s debts went up ninefold from TL 31 billion in 2019 – when Imamoğlu was first elected – to TL 264,916,101,000 liras as of the end of 2024, figures show.
The debts of the some 31 subsidiary companies owned by the IBB are not included in this sum. When combined, the total number goes up to nearly TL 400 billion.
Audits have shown the IBB’s debts have no worth. Most of the borrowed sums were spent on areas other than savings, such as concerts, events and event advertisements.
Additionally, the IBB administration took authorization from the IBB council dozens of times for both internal and external borrowing.
In the past six years, the municipality, including payments from the central administration and subsidiary companies, has in total spent TL 1.71 trillion from the budget.
Imamoğlu and several other senior officials of the IBB were arrested last month on charges of corruption, money laundering and even aiding terrorism.
The former mayor is also facing a prison sentence and a political ban over accusations of threatening a public prosecutor.