28.03.2025 11:28
As part of the "corruption" investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), lawyer Gökhan Taşkapan, who testified as a "witness," stated that the funds obtained from the maintenance tenders for the municipal buses carried out by IMM were transferred to a non-existent company named Şimşek Oto, under the direction of CHP Istanbul Deputy Özgür Karabat, in order to be laundered.
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According to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the investigation into Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was removed from his position as the Mayor of Istanbul after his arrest, and 99 suspects regarding 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" is ongoing.
"THERE IS SUCH A COMPANY IN OFFICIAL RECORDS, BUT IT DOES NOT EXIST IN PRACTICE"
As part of the investigation, the statement of lawyer Gökhan Taşkapan, the owner of the office where the money counting footage related to the acquisition of the CHP Istanbul Provincial building was allegedly recorded, has been obtained as a witness. Taşkapan stated in the prosecutor's office, in response to the question, "Please explain what you know about the ongoing corruption operation," the following; "The main subject of the tenders conducted by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is the maintenance tenders for municipal buses, and some other tenders are being left under the control of a company named Şimşek Oto, directed by a person named Özgür Karabat and organized by his brother Devrim Karabat, with the brothers Yılmaz Şimşek and Erkan Şimşek. There is such a company in official records, but it does not exist in practice. The amounts won from the tenders taken from the metropolitan municipality are being laundered by being transferred to this company named Şimşek Oto."
"THEY TRANSFERRED SOME OF THE MONEY TO A COOPERATIVE WITH 250 SHARES"
Taşkapan stated that land was purchased in Silivri Çatalca with the money obtained from the tenders. The witness continued his statement as follows; "Additionally, they established a separate cooperative in the Silivri Çatalca region with 60 parcels, each worth 40 thousand dollars, and transferred part of the tender money there. They also transferred some of the money to a cooperative named SS İkitelli Silivri Toplu İş Yeri Yapı Kooperatifi, which has a total of 250 shares, each valued at 110 thousand dollars. Some of it was also transferred to the Sefaköy Toplu Yapı Kooperatifi, which is worth 200 million lira for 200 acres."
"THE MONEY IN THE ACCOUNTS COMES FROM THE TENDERS"
According to the information I have obtained, the details of the cooperatives to which the income from the tenders I mentioned has been transferred are as follows. The first is the SS Silivri Sefaköy Toplu Konut Yapı Kooperatifi, located in Istanbul Silivri Büyükçavuşlu and Küçükçavuşlu, covering an area of 234 thousand 400 square meters, and the second is the SS İkitelli Silivri Toplu İş Yeri Yapı Kooperatifi, located in Silivri Balaban, covering 434 acres. Also, as far as I know, the apartments and the money in the accounts acquired by these individuals after 2023 are the money coming from the tenders; this is all I currently know."
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