Istanbul’s former mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu, who was arrested last month in a corruption investigation, faces fresh accusations dating back to his former tenure as mayor of an Istanbul district. The Sabah newspaper reported that Imamoğlu approved a major housing development, though it was against regulations, helping the developer build more houses on an empty plot of land at the heart of Beylikdüzü district, which he governed between 2014 and 2019.
Muhammed Ömer Tüncel, an assembly member of the Beylikdüzü municipality representing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), told Sabah on Tuesday that the housing development, situated next to the Beylikdüzü municipality building, enjoyed special privileges thanks to Imamoğlu.
Tüncel said that the project was approved in 2007 by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) on the condition of a limit to building construction in proportion to the total size of the land on which it would be built. This limit was reduced by the Beylikdüzü municipality in 2016 when Imamoğlu was in office. “Thus, the construction company was able to build on extra land corresponding to about 68,000 square meters (731,945 square feet) or an area for about 680 more apartment flats,” he said, noting that the district municipality ignored the IBB’s original permit. “As a result, the company profited about TL 4.7 billion (around $125 million),” Tüncel said.
“Regulations say a construction limit on land can only be expanded if it involves urban transformation (rebuilding of houses and other buildings for purposes of better safety against natural disasters). This was not the case,” Tüncel stated. He told the newspaper that AK Party assembly members sought a response from the municipality over the issue, but the municipality has been quiet. The newspaper claimed that Imamoğlu purchased a villa from the construction company in Istanbul’s Büyükçekmece district shortly after approval of the irregular expansion.
