Turkish authorities have issued an international red notice for Murat Gülibrahimoğlu, a fugitive wanted in connection with a corruption investigation into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB), Turkish media reported Monday.
The investigation, which centers on allegations of corruption involving the municipality, has also led to the arrest and suspension of Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu.
Authorities previously issued a red notice for another fugitive suspect, Emrah Bağdatlı, as part of the same probe. The investigation remains ongoing.
Imamoğlu is at the heart of an array of accusations focusing on what prosecutors call a “criminal network” that he led. The network at the IBB reportedly took bribes from businesspeople in exchange for permits issued by the municipality.
Some suspects who collaborated with authorities as part of a plea deal claimed Imamoğlu sought to fund his campaign for the presidency through bribes.
Although municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) were already under investigation and several mayors had been detained for corruption last year, IBB has been under the spotlight, as its high-profile mayor was arrested in March, shortly before the CHP announced him as a future presidential candidate.
Digging deeper into an alleged criminal network run by Imamoğlu and expanding another investigation linked to a businessperson whom the district municipalities had awarded lucrative contracts, investigators launched further operations, rounding up municipal bureaucrats and other mayors.
Operations were the culmination of four separate investigations and are mainly based on the confessions of Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, a businessperson who was apparently favored for municipal tenders he won through bribery.
According to case files, Aktaş’s testimony directly led to warrants for 47 individuals, including senior IBB staff and five CHP district mayors. Twenty-two suspects, including five mayors, remain in custody.
Court filings accuse Aktaş of establishing and leading a criminal organization, engaging in bribery, rigging tenders and contracts, and laundering illicit assets. Investigators seized the assets of companies linked to him and placed injunctions on his business holdings.
Although Aktaş initially denied the allegations, he later provided detailed confessions on April 30 and May 11, reportedly exposing how municipal tenders were manipulated through a network of bribes and coercion.
His testimony has since become the foundation for multiple operations against CHP-controlled districts, including the arrests of Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat and Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer.
Aktaş was freed from house arrest last month after following his cooperation with investigators under Türkiye’s effective remorse provisions.
