Police detained 25 suspects, including two deputy mayors, in a corruption investigation into Ankara’s Etimesgut Municipality, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The Ankara West Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the investigation concerns alleged irregularities in municipal tenders, falsified documents and illicit benefits obtained through zoning and permit procedures.
The suspects, including five municipal officials, were detained in simultaneous operations across five provinces. Prosecutors identified the deputy mayors only by their initials, G.B. and F.G.
The allegations include establishing or managing a criminal organization, membership in such a group, embezzlement, bribery, extortion by public officials, bid rigging and manipulating the fulfillment of contractual obligations.
Prosecutors said investigators examined reports from the Court of Accounts, statements from suspects and complainants, applications to the presidential communications center, financial intelligence records and telecommunications data.
Ankara police’s financial crimes unit is continuing searches, seizures and procedures to bring the suspects before prosecutors, according to the prosecutor’s office.
On July 30, the investigation previously led to simultaneous raids across nine provinces, when police detained 55 suspects, including 42 municipal employees and 13 company representatives.
Etimesgut Mayor Erdal Beşikcioğlu and four deputy mayors, identified by their initials as M.K., T.Ö., I.B.B. and A.A., were among those detained.
Prosecutors requested that 44 suspects, including Beşikcioğlu, be jailed pending trial and that 10 others be released under judicial supervision. A court subsequently ordered 40 suspects, including the mayor, jailed pending trial.