Istanbul court accepts graft indictment against Fatih Municipality

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Fatih Mayor Mustafa Demir was detained on the morning of Dec. 17, 2013 and has been released on pending trial. DHA Photo

The Istanbul 20th High Criminal Court has accepted an indictment prepared by public prosecutor Ekrem Aydıner regarding allegations of tender rigging and bribery at Fatih Municipality.

Aydıner had to rewrite the indictment after the court rejected the first one, citing shortcomings in evidence for some actions stated in the files. Aydıner submitted an objection to the court’s decision, but a higher court, the Istanbul 21st High Criminal Court, turned down this appeal.

The major difference between old and new indictments is in the number of suspects, which has gone down to 21 from 31. Nine incidents are also cited in the new indictment, while the former one cited 14.

Some 18 suspects, including Fatih Mayor Mustafa Demir, were detained on the morning of Dec. 17, 2013 on bribery and corruption allegations at the Fatih Municipality. They were released pending trial in the first hearing at the court. Ten other suspects who were also detained on the same day were later released.

Demir is accused of giving the go-ahead to construction that threatened the Marmaray’s safety in exchange for money, according to allegations that have emerged as part of a three-pronged bribery probe into some of Turkey’s most powerful people.