The informant Murat Kapki claimed that Murat Ongun said, "I wish we had escaped too."

11.08.2025 22:46

In the corruption investigation against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, businessman Murat Kapki, who was arrested, gave his statement for the third time under the effective remorse provisions. Kapki claimed that during their arrest and transfer to prison by bus, Murat Ongun, the Chairman of the Board of Media AŞ, said to those in the vehicle, "We helped Emrah Bağdatlı escape abroad; we should have escaped too, are we stupid?"

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In the investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the suspects, including Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was removed from his position as the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) after his arrest, charges of "being a leader of a criminal organization," "being a member of a criminal organization," "bribery," "corruption," "qualified fraud," "illegally obtaining personal data," and "interfering with a tender" are ongoing.

"THEY FORCED ME TO GET A MARKET CARD"

Businessman Murat Kapki, who gave his statement on June 24 and July 18 under the provisions of effective remorse, provided a third statement on August 7. In his statement, Kapki claimed that Murat Ongun, the Chairman of the Board of Media AŞ, requested money or market cards from some companies through the Culture AŞ channel to obtain market cards during the Ramadan holidays, stating that he himself sent around 500,000 lira annually to the Culture AŞ account as BVA.

"MURAT ONGUN SAID 'WE ESCAPED EMRAH BAĞDATLI ABROAD, ARE WE STUPID TO NOT GO?'"

Kapki stated, "During our transfer to prison after being arrested in this investigation file, Murat Ongun made a statement on the bus saying, 'We escaped Emrah Bağdatlı abroad, are we stupid to not go?' Emrah Bağdatlı is laundering the unjust profits he obtained from the jobs he received directly or indirectly from the municipality through fake invoices. This issue will already come to light in the tax audit. Bağdatlı, who is currently a fugitive, confirmed in a tweet he posted after my statement that Ongun and I are not on good terms and that we do not like each other."

"OZAN İŞ CALLED ME AND ASKED ME NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TENDER"

Kapki stated that they received the technical specifications to submit a bid for the open-air tender conducted by Beşiktaş Municipality at the end of 2024, and added: "The day before the tender date, Beşiktaş Deputy Mayor Ozan İş (suspect in the investigation regarding the criminal organization led by Aziz İhsan Aktaş) called me via FaceTime and asked me not to participate in the tender. When I asked why, he said they would award it to BELTAŞ, and therefore I should not submit a bid. I asked him, 'Are you setting me up?' He told me he would call all the companies one by one and tell them not to submit bids. I then called a few companies that were preparing bids and confirmed that Ozan İş had called them too, and no company participated in the tender, which was awarded to BELTAŞ. The aim here is to obtain unjust profits by giving these advertising spaces to whoever they want through BELTAŞ."

"IT IS KNOWN THAT INAN GÜNEY OBTAINED UNJUST PROFITS IN THE OUTDOOR ADVERTISING SECTOR"

Kapki stated that İnan Güney, the Mayor of Beyoğlu, was previously the General Manager of BELTAŞ, a subsidiary of Beşiktaş Municipality, and made the following claims: "Although he is currently the mayor in Beyoğlu, he still has authority and a say in Beşiktaş Municipality and BELTAŞ. He organizes the work related to advertising areas. Serkan Öztürk, who is a suspect in the file, is a very close friend of İnan Güney and is also his treasurer. He gives these advertising spaces to other companies through Serkan. İnan Güney is also mentioned in the SYSTEM, which I heard from Hüseyin Köksal in my previous statement. İnan Güney is a very close associate of Ekrem İmamoğlu. He is, so to speak, Ekrem İmamoğlu's man. It is known that İnan Güney has obtained unjust profits in the outdoor advertising sector in very high amounts."

ONGUN'S SIDE STATEMENT: EVEN IF YOU OPEN THE DOORS TODAY, I WON'T LEAVE TURKEY

On the other hand, following Kapki's allegations, Murat Ongun made a statement on his social media account regarding the issue. The statement included the following expressions: "Even if you open the doors today, I won't leave Turkey. I will be acquitted; the plotters, slanderers, liars, and false publishers will be convicted. Your heads are confused again. For months, you claimed that I kidnapped the person in question. Now you made me say 'I wish.' Sabah newspaper previously published the phone recording of Murat Kapki that entered the file. He was cursing me because I hadn't given him an appointment for 2 years. However, today it has been claimed that I frequently received help cards from him. The scenario has exploded again. I won't say anything against Murat Kapki's slanders because he has been threatened with his wife. I don't hit someone when they are down. The last word; I will break this game. What did the song say; 'I'm sorry Leyla.'