Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has shut down requests to investigate allegations of corruption at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB), a city council member said Tuesday.
The IBB Council convened for the first time on Monday under Deputy Mayor Nuri Aslan since former Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, also from the CHP, was arrested on charges of corruption last month.
Murat Türkyılmaz, the spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) at the IBB, proposed that a committee be set up to investigate the allegations of corruption within the city administration.
His proposal was rejected by council members from the CHP, AK Party Istanbul Provincial Chair Abdullah Özdemir said in a post on X.
“Our questions would be very simple,” Özdemir said. “How were billions of liras worth of tenders conducted at IBB subsidiaries? How were the public funds funneled and to whom? Is there or is there not an administration in this city that can stand to account?”
The AK Party lawmaker insisted the CHP “shied away from even acknowledging these questions let alone answering them.”
“Auditing the 32 subsidiary companies of the IBB, their executive structures and the council’s right to being informed are all obligations but they were rejected,” Özdemir argued.
He accused the CHP members of “trying to cover up the scheme funded with the public’s money.”
Imamoğlu, along with dozens of others, is currently under arrest on charges of corruption related to his two-time tenure as mayor of the city, as well as his previous tenure as mayor of the city’s Beylikdüzü district.
Prosecutors say he led a criminal network profiting from bribes from businesses and tender rigging, among other offenses. His alleged cohorts, from municipality employees to owners of companies who were awarded lucrative contracts, were among the detainees and those formally arrested on March 22.
The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul said several witnesses came out in the case against the alleged Imamoğlu-led network, disclosing a scheme of bribery that started after Imamoğlu took office in 2019.
Eyewitnesses, including owners of an advertising and signage company, told investigators that Imamoğlu and others pressured businesspeople via extortion, colluded with certain businesspeople to acquire illicit gains, were involved in money laundering through transactions using intermediaries and used people as “secret coffers” for the transfer of illegal gains.
Imamoğlu is also accused of plunging the IBB into nearly $7 billion debt during the six years he helmed Istanbul.
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, Turkish media reported.
IBB’s 2024 Audit Report was released at Monday’s IBB Council meeting, showing TL 264 billion ($6.94 billion) in debts and confirming media claims.
“There is also a budget deficit of TL 59 billion ($1.54 billion),” AK Party’s IBB Council member Muhammed Kaynar said at the meeting.
“The IBB earned TL 179.6 billion in revenue in 2024. TL 155 billion of this came from central administration as tax income share and local administrations share,” Kaynar pointed out. “The IBB spent TL 238.9 billion in 2024, marking a 33% deficit.”
He also emphasized the financial charts of IBB’s 31 subsidiaries were not sent to the auditing committee.
The IBB’s debts went up ninefold from TL 31 billion in 2019 – when Imamoğlu was first elected – to TL 264,916,101,000 as of the end of 2024, figures show.
The debts of the 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.
“From TL 26.7 billion in 2018 to TL 215 billion at the end of 2024 in total debts, that’s a 704% increase,” Kaynar told the council.
He stressed that the municipality spent TL 1.34 billion on tenders for cultural events and other organizations in 2024.
“They threw public funds around under the pretext of events and dances. Most of these things were done through subcontractors, paying sums way above market costs,” Kaynar said.
The number of staff at the IBB also went up in 2018, increasing by 3,629 people to 72,844 in total.
Some 66% of the tenders worth over TL 90 billion in 2024 were made with almost zero competition, Kaynar said. “Invitation method was made widespread instead of open tender, which reduced price cuts and increased costs.”