Businessman Aziz Ihsan Aktaş testified Monday in an Istanbul court that an alleged system of pressure and payments within the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) was designed in part to finance the political career of former Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu as the sprawling corruption trial involving 414 defendants continued.
Aktaş, who is being tried without detention, presented his defense at the 68th hearing of the case before Istanbul’s 33rd High Criminal Court. Fifty-three of the 414 defendants are currently in custody.
The case centers on prosecutors’ allegations of a criminal organization led by Imamoğlu. The defendants face various accusations of alleged corruption involving the municipality and its affiliates.
Aktaş told the court that he had been arrested as part of the investigation widely known as the Beşiktaş case before voluntarily applying to prosecutors in April 2025 to benefit from Türkiye’s effective repentance provisions. He said he made the decision without pressure or direction from others.
“The structure I encountered was established under the leadership of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu,” Aktaş said.
He claimed that requests for money attributed to Imamoğlu were conveyed through presidential advisers Ertan Yıldız and Ibrahim Bülbüllü, Istanbul lawmaker and former CHP Deputy Chair Özgür Karabat and other intermediaries.
Aktaş alleged that outstanding payments owed by municipal bodies were deliberately withheld to pressure businesses into making payments. Companies could also face threats of penalties, contract terminations or difficulties with zoning and licensing procedures if they refused the demands, he claimed.
“One of the most important fundamental purposes of the system was to finance Ekrem Imamoğlu’s political career,” Aktaş told the court.
Aktaş described what he alleged was a recurring method in which payments legitimately owed to contractors were delayed until businesspeople agreed to provide money demanded by people linked to the purported system.
He said the payments were not deposited into municipal or official donation accounts but were instead withdrawn in cash and delivered to intermediaries at locations including hotels and private offices.
“The people, dates and companies are different, but the method is the same,” he said.
Aktaş argued that the alleged operation could not be explained as the independent actions of a handful of lower-ranking municipal officials.
He further claimed that in one case a demand for money was explicitly conveyed to him as an “instruction from Ekrem Imamoğlu,” while in another he was allegedly warned that payments owed to his companies would be withheld.
Aktaş also referred to a meeting at the mayoral residence in Florya, where he said demands were communicated to companies by one of Imamoğlu’s advisers.
“These concrete repetitions lead to a clear conclusion,” Aktaş alleged. “Ekrem Imamoğlu used the office of mayor to collect money for the system.”
Aktaş also alleged that Karabat contacted him during the 2024 local election campaign and told him companies doing business with CHP-run municipalities in Istanbul were expected to provide money for the campaign.
According to Aktaş, Karabat told him during a meeting at a hotel in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district that he was required to pay TL 5 million (about $104,000), citing an instruction from Imamoğlu. Aktaş claimed he was warned that companies belonging to him and his relatives could otherwise face delays in receiving payments.
Aktaş said he ultimately arranged for the TL 5 million to be delivered to another defendant, Sırrı Küçük, through an intermediary.
He separately alleged that people acting through Ertan Yıldız and Burak Korzay demanded $970,000 while payments to companies owned by his brothers were being delayed.
Aktaş claimed he delivered the $970,000 to a hotel in Istanbul’s Kilyos district on Jan. 19, 2024, after being told outstanding payments could otherwise remain blocked.
Aktaş also testified about a meeting involving companies carrying out maintenance and repair work for Istanbul’s public transportation authority, IETT.
He alleged that during a subsequent meeting at the mayoral residence in Florya, companies were told they could face difficulties in fulfilling their contracts and receiving payments if they rejected demands from the municipal administration.
According to Aktaş, businesses were asked to make payments totaling 10% of their contract values as progress payments were received.
He claimed that between 2020 and 2024, businesses associated with him made payments totaling TL 84.86 million ($1.77 million) under the alleged arrangement.
Aktaş said the episodes he described demonstrated what he characterized as a coordinated structure operating under Imamoğlu’s leadership, with different intermediaries but a consistent method of allegedly withholding legitimate payments to extract money from businesses.
Following Aktaş’s testimony, lawyers for Imamoğlu and other defendants questioned him about his allegations.
The court adjourned proceedings until Tuesday, Aug. 25, when it is expected to continue hearing defenses.
