Turkish authorities detained 57 suspects in a corruption investigation looking into the procurement processes at an Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) subsidiary, police said Monday.
The operation targeted Boğaziçi Facility Management Services (Boğaziçi Tesis Yönetim Hizmetleri A.Ş.), where investigators said several tenders were organized by suspects who manipulated the bidding process and made transactions that violate public procurement regulations.
The authorities said the activities amounted to bid rigging conducted within an organized network.
Officers from the Istanbul Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit launched simultaneous raids across six provinces, including Istanbul, Adana, Bursa, Diyarbakir, Konya and Yalova. The suspects were detained during operations at multiple addresses, officials said.
The detainees were handed over to Istanbul police for questioning as the investigation continues.
Former mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoğlu, was arrested on March 19 last year on a string of corruption charges, including bribery, tender rigging and money laundering.
Held in pretrial detention ever since, prosecutors want him jailed for up to 2,430 years. The 107 defendants, including Imamoğlu, began testifying in custody on March 9.
Prosecutors accuse suspects of inflicting a "public expense loss" amounting to TL 161 billion ($3.8 billion) through bribes. A total of 402 suspects have been indicted in the case, including 105 who were remanded in custody. Imamoğlu is among them.
