07.11.2025 20:27
As part of the corruption investigation against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), Orhan Gazi Erdoğan, the CHP's information technology officer who was detained on the allegation that personal data and location information of 4.7 million users were leaked to two countries through the "Istanbul Senin" application, was arrested by the magistrate court to which he was referred.
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In the ongoing investigation regarding the corruption allegations against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), it is claimed that the personal data and location information of 4.7 million users have been leaked to two countries through the "Istanbul Senin" application.
CHP IT RESPONSIBLE ARRESTED
Orhan Gazi Erdoğan, the IT responsible of the CHP, who was detained as part of the investigation, has completed his procedures at the police station. The suspect Erdoğan's statement was taken by the prosecutor at the Istanbul Courthouse where he was referred. After the statement procedures, Erdoğan was arrested by the magistrate court and sent to prison.
PROSECUTOR'S REFERRAL LETTER
In the prosecutor's referral letter, it was stated that according to the report prepared by the National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM), it was determined that the personal data of more than 4.7 million people were sent abroad to two different countries through the "Istanbul Senin" application.
Additionally, it was noted that processed personal data belonging to 11 million 360 thousand 412 citizens were identified within the IMM Hanem application, which was developed by IMM, and that these were ballot data sent to third parties on November 8, 2023, as per the examination conducted by USOM.
The referral letter recorded that a suspect, whose statement was taken under the effective remorse provision, stated that he received the relevant data from Orhan Gazi Erdoğan, who is the data responsible at the CHP Headquarters, to be used in the 2024 local elections, as per the instructions given to him.
In the response from the Supreme Election Council (YSK), it was stated that the current domestic and foreign voter rolls were sent to the party headquarters on September 21, 2023, in line with the request of the CHP Headquarters, and it was emphasized that the data within the relevant program were obtained in this context.
In the letter, it was mentioned that suspect Erdoğan admitted to sharing data with suspects Melih Geçek and Naim Erol Özgüner, sending them as links or rar files, and it was evaluated that his statement regarding not thinking he sent all the data was an attempt to evade the crime. The letter stated that the suspect committed the crime attributed to him with these actions.
INVESTIGATION
In a statement made by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was noted that in the investigation regarding the activities and actions of the organized crime group allegedly led by Ekrem İmamoğlu, it was determined that the personal data and location information of 4.7 million users were leaked to two countries through the relevant application, and that these users' personal data and location information were put up for sale on the "darkweb." It was also stated that the ballot data of 11 million citizens were processed and leaked outside the program in the sub-application named "IMM Hanem" within the same application.
Regarding these findings, it was reported that a total of 15 suspects, including 13 suspects identified with relationships to the mentioned organization leaders, who were managers in 6 companies, including IMM affiliated companies, and 2 suspects who were found to have participated in the actions of issuing fake invoices for the companies of the fugitive organization leader Murat Gülibrahimoğlu, were subject to detention orders for the crimes of "illegally obtaining personal data," "violating the Tax Procedure Law," and "being a member of the organized crime group led by Ekrem İmamoğlu." It was stated that all suspects had been captured.
Among the 15 suspects detained in this context, 6 were arrested, while the court imposed judicial control measures on 9 suspects.
5 MORE SUSPECTS ARRESTED
As part of the investigation, 5 more suspects were identified, whose names were mentioned in the relevant statements, who were determined to have relationships with organization leaders and were involved in the processing and sending of the data abroad. It was understood that two of the suspects worked in the IMM Smart City Department, while the other suspects were employed in the Communication Coordination Center. The prosecutor's office issued detention orders for the suspects for the crimes of "illegally disseminating personal data" and "being a member of a criminal organization." Among the 5 suspects detained in this context, 4 were arrested, and 1 was subjected to judicial control measures.
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