With hubbub around his detention still simmering, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu awaits questioning at the city’s main police headquarters. Media reports say he will be the last to be questioned among the 87 suspects detained on Wednesday on charges of rampant corruption in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) and for aiding the PKK terrorist group by recruiting its sympathizers.
Prosecutors say Imamoğlu was among the leaders of a criminal network apparently enriching themselves through bribes and rigged public tenders. Imamoğlu and 99 others are also accused of illegally obtaining personal data, while a separate probe also accuses him, IBB Deputy Secretary-General Mahir Polat, Istanbul’s Şişli district Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan and four others of helping the PKK. Security forces are still searching for 19 fugitive suspects.
The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, run by Imamoğlu since 2019 as a mayor from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), says the evidence, including testimonies of witnesses in an investigation into a notorious “money counting” video of CHP-linked people, implicated Imamoğlu and others. The video leaked last year is part of another investigation into allegations that the bags full of cash seen in the video were linked to “vote buying” for the CHP’s incumbent chair, Özgür Özel. Eyewitnesses told investigators that Imamoğlu and others pressured businesspeople via extortion, colluded with certain businesspeople to acquire illicit gains and involved in money laundering through transactions using intermediaries, and used people as “secret coffers” for the transfer of illicit gains.
The statement by the office also detailed that the investigation revealed Imamoğlu led a criminal organization, establishing a network from his time as mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district. The suspects were said to have organized illegal tenders, committed fraud and used various municipal subsidiaries to engage in bribery, corruption and illegal data acquisition, thereby continuing their illicit activities.
A total of 100 suspects, including Imamoğlu, Murat Ongun, Tuncay Yılmaz, Fatih Keleş, Ertan Yıldız and others linked to the organization, have been implicated in charges related to "being a leader of a criminal organization," "membership in a criminal organization," "bribery," "fraud," "illegal data acquisition" and "tampering with a tender." Ongun was once a spokesperson for Imamoğlu before his title was changed to “adviser,” while Yılmaz is the general manager of the Imamoğlu family’s construction company. Keleş is the chair of a sports club owned by the IBB, while Ertan Yıldız is also an adviser for Imamoğlu. Yıldız also chairs a powerful IBB body in charge of its companies. Media reports on Thursday said he, along with another suspect in the case, threatened the owner of a shopping mall to extort 5 million euros ($5.43 million) or face shutdown through a concocted safety report to justify it. Sabah newspaper reported on Thursday that the shopping mall owner refused to pay and faced fines of up to TL 197 million ($5.18 million) for running the business in a building unsafe for earthquakes. The same media report says Yıldız sought to dodge police surveillance by leaving his cell phone in the handbag of his spouse and sought to escape before his detention. Media reports say most of the suspects invoked plea deals and would likely testify against Imamoğlu and other prominent names in the probe.
Among the fugitive suspects was Merthan Açıl, a former professional footballer with links to British second-tier club Hull City owned by Acun Ilıcalı, a Turkish magnate who also happens to be the ex-husband of the sister of Açıl’s wife. Media reports say Açıl founded an advertising company in 2019 and started being awarded lucrative tenders by the IBB in a short time. Reports say the total amount of tenders for Açıl’s company amounted to more than TL 334 million in one year.
