22 detained in bribery operation in municipality

ISTANBUL

A total of 22 people have been detained for issuing counterfeit reports after the investigation launched by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against some employees of Istanbul's Büyükçekmece Municipality for taking bribes.

The investigation revealed that a construction company did not lay the foundations for the construction of 140 villas with an approximate value of 8 billion Turkish Liras ($263.3 million), planned to be inhabited in April 2024, the compulsory bored piles were not driven, seismic controls were not carried out, and the building inspectors issued counterfeit reports without making any controls.

The teams determined that the municipality officials had given construction licenses to irregular buildings in exchange for bribes and showed the reports to the expert committee consisting of university lecturers.

The committee received two separate discovery reports and an expert report on the forgery of municipal licenses. As a result, the police organized a simultaneous operation against the suspects on the morning of Jan. 18.

In the course of the operation, 22 people, including Deputy Mayor Nuraydın Sak, were detained.

Two unlicensed firearms, 20,000 liras in cash, eight full gold coins, two half gold coins and 43 quarter gold coins were seized during searches at the locations of the suspects. The suspects were taken to the police station for further investigation.