Arrested Beşiktaş Mayor Akpolat: My monthly income is 85,000 TL.

23 suspects, including Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, who was detained as part of an investigation into a criminal organization in Istanbul, and Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who is alleged to be the leader of the organization, have been arrested.

HE SAID HE OWNS A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

In his statement to the prosecutor, Rıza Akpolat, who answered questions in a question-and-answer format, stated that his monthly income is 85 thousand lira and that he owns a construction company named Emza Akaryakıt. When asked, "Please provide information about the appointment process to the board of directors of Beltaş; what is the role of the mayor in this process?" Akpolat recalled that he knew the board members, that the name Ahmet Aktaş was brought up by Alican Abacı, and that the appointment process of Önder Gedik and Esra Yenidünya was based on collective wisdom.

"THE COMPANY MADE THE SALE, BUT I DON'T KNOW THE REASONS"

Akpolat explained that the decision regarding the sale of the real estate was made by the board of directors and that he learned about this situation later. In response to the question of who decided to sell the properties in Ortaköy and Rumeli Hisarı belonging to Beltaş, he stated that the sale was made by the company, but he did not know when and for what reasons it was done. When it was stated in the file regarding the sale process of the properties that there was no board decision to initiate the tender process, Akpolat said, "According to the understanding of transparent management, a decision was made to go to tender. It was stated in the board decision that the sale must comply with legal regulations. In this context, the chairman of the board, Önder Gedik, took the initiative and granted the authority to sell."

AZİZ İHSAN AKTAŞ DID NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION

When asked whether an announcement was made regarding the sale of the property, Akpolat claimed he had no knowledge. He argued that he had no information about the commission formed during the sale process of the property in Ortaköy, which was sold to Elif LPG Akaryakıt AŞ owned by Aziz İhsan Aktaş, one day after Ahmet Aktaş was elected as a board member.

The prosecutor's office wrote to Beltaş on January 2 regarding whether there was a board decision related to the sale of the mentioned property, and the next day Önder Gedik, Ozan İş, and lawyer Arif Sağlam came to the prosecutor's office with the board book. However, it was stated that there was no notarized approval on the board decision taken on July 4-5, 2024, and that there was a decision regarding Gedik's appointment as a board member on July 3, 2024, which was approved on July 8, 2024. In response, Akpolat claimed he had no knowledge about this matter as well.

"I DON'T KNOW THE REASONS FOR THE TRANSFER OF FUNDS"

Akpolat claimed he had no knowledge about the inconsistency in the valuation report obtained by Beltaş five months before the sale of the property, which stated the value of the property as 269 million lira, 4 million euros, and 4 million dollars. When asked about the 70 million lira deposited into Beltaş's account by Elif LPG and Akaryakıt company as a salary payment reason, the 400 million lira that came to the Beşiktaş Municipality's account, and the approximately 302 million lira deposited by Sarper Petrolcülük, of which 301 million lira was also transferred to the Beşiktaş Municipality's account, Akpolat replied, "I don't know the reasons for the transfer of funds."

When asked whether he was involved in the sale of the properties to the two companies and whether the funds paid to Beltaş were transferred to the Beşiktaş Municipality account, Akpolat stated that he had no knowledge and was not involved in the sale decisions. In response to the question of who decided to invite three companies to the sale of the properties and whether he had any knowledge about the owners, Akpolat stated that he did not know the companies and did not know how they participated in the tender.

"It has been observed that after the bid envelopes were opened, an auction was held, and the company named Elif LPG and Akaryakıt won the tender for 470 million 760 thousand lira and deposited the specified amount into the Beltaş account. However, according to the report obtained by our Chief Public Prosecutor's Office dated January 8, 2025, the sale date was determined to be July 26, 2024, and the current value of the property at that time was 580 million 825 thousand lira, while the value at the time of the report was 651 million 291 thousand lira. What do you have to say about this matter?" Akpolat responded, "I learned about the sale after it was made. When I learned that it was sold for more than 60% of its value, I thought it was in the public interest and was happy."

It was stated that the companies owned by the suspect Aziz İhsan Aktaş, namely "Barka, Vekontek, Bilginay, Elif LPG, and Akaryakıt," received 18 tenders from Beşiktaş Municipality since 2020, most of which were conducted through negotiation. When asked what he would say about Aktaş's companies receiving nearly all of the municipality's jobs that fall within their area of activity, Akpolat stated, "I do not know the mentioned companies. I do not know how many tenders they received. The tender process is followed by the relevant units of our municipality. The tenders concluded in meetings are discussed, but the company owners or the tender process are not explained." Akpolat claimed that he did not know the tender processes, that he was not involved unless there was an extraordinary situation, and that he knew Aziz İhsan Aktaş because of his subcontracting work for Beşiktaş Municipality, but he had no personal or commercial relationship and had not met face to face.