Osman Gökçek, an Ankara lawmaker for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), formally filed a criminal complaint on Tuesday against the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality after his earlier claims over the controversial acquisition of paper cups. Gökçek accuses Yavaş and other municipal officials of running a criminal organization, rigging tenders and taking bribes.
Earlier this month, Gökçek claimed that the capital’s municipality, run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), launched a tender to purchase 45 million paper cups worth TL 159 million ($4.09 million), squandering the municipality’s resources. Gökçek, whose father preceded Mansur Yavaş as Ankara mayor, has drawn attention to the issue through a news conference earlier at Parliament, where paper cups adorned a mannequin whose face was replaced with a mask of Yavaş.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Gökçek revised the earlier figures and said Yavaş ordered the purchase of 140 million paper cups worth TL 400 million. He said he presented evidence on the matter to prosecutors. He cited another unusually high number of purchases by the municipality, including another 12 million paper cups "to be used in the municipality's offices." "They claimed they distributed cups to neighborhood administrators' offices for distribution to the public, but we haven't seen receipts regarding them. All invoices for such transfers should be available. They claimed they sent five trucks for delivery, but it is impossible to squeeze such a large number of cups into five trucks. I will prove it," he said.
Yavaş, who was earlier accused of spending excessively on free concerts the municipality organized, allegedly awarded the tender to a fledgling company, Gökçek has claimed. “With all things calculated, the paper cups are enough to be used to serve tea for all people attending funerals and burials for 41 years,” Gökçek said at an earlier news conference. The tender was for the purchase of paper cups to be used to serve free drinks to people visiting cemeteries for funerals.
Gökçek has questioned why the company, which was awarded the contract and delivered the cups, changed hands just two months after the tender and how it won the tender despite being new to such a major business deal. Gökçek has also questioned why the firm was specifically chosen, despite the fact that the sale of paper cups is not their primary area of business.
The municipality denied the allegations and called on Gökçek to file a complaint with the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, which the lawmaker did on Tuesday.
