The third hearing of the case in which 19 defendants, including Mayor Tanju Özcan, who was arrested and suspended from his duty as part of the investigation against Bolu Municipality, was held.
The trial, which continues at the Bolu 3rd High Criminal Court, was held at Bolu Social Sciences High School, which was converted into a courtroom.
Detained defendants Tanju Özcan and Deputy Mayor Süleyman Can attended the hearing via Audio and Video Information System (SEGBİS) from Ankara Sincan Prison.
In the indictment prepared by the Bolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, a prison sentence of 90 years and 3 months to 263 years and 6 months was requested for Tanju Özcan, on charges of "extortion by force" 6 times, "attempted extortion" 3 times, "qualified fraud" 34 times and "bribery" once.
At the second hearing last month, the public prosecutor announced his opinion on the merits.
In the opinion, it was requested that Özcan be sentenced to a total of 69 years and 6 months to 217 years in prison for the crimes of "chained extortion through coercion", "extortion through coercion", "attempted extortion through coercion" and "taking a bribe" by applying effective remorse provisions for the crime of "qualified fraud" against 32 victims.
While the prosecutor requested prison sentences for various crimes for the other 18 defendants, he requested the continued detention of the detained defendants.
Defending against the opinion on the merits, Tanju Özcan stated that although she wanted to attend the hearing physically, her request was not met.
Özcan objected to the accusations in the opinion, saying, "Although I persistently wanted to come to the hearing, I was not brought. My right to defend face to face was taken away from me."
Explaining his work during his term as mayor, Özcan said that they gave scholarships to hundreds of students through the BOLSEV Foundation and that they saved funds to build a nursing home.
Özcan used the following statements:
"It is clear where the foundation's money comes from, it is clear who it is spent on, and no one says that a penny has gone into your pocket. There is nothing suspicious about their spending. The prosecutor's office tells us that you collected money from markets by force. It is none of our business where this money goes, they say, this is not the subject of fraud."
Claiming that a perception operation was being carried out against the municipality in his defense, Özcan claimed that there was no suspicious activity in the accounts examined by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK).
Özcan said, "They asked MASAK, after they were taken into custody, the account records of those who were detained and those who were not detained were checked, and there was no suspicious account activity. Why is this not in the indictment? I want you to take this issue into consideration."
Özcan continued his words as follows:
"We took from the rich and gave to the poor. We are shown as one of the dirtiest municipalities in Türkiye. 10 operations are carried out and the perception is created. The municipality is rendered inoperable."
Responding to accusations that money was collected from market officials for the BOLSEV Foundation, Özcan argued that the negotiations in question were held within the scope of advertising agreements.
Özcan said, "Markets advertise. We wanted to get a share of the advertising cake. You will commit fraud and do it in writing. There are people who can be forced, there are people who cannot be forced. We told them to convey our offer to the upper management. It is not possible to talk about coercion here."
Reacting to the prosecutor's office's evaluations, Özcan completed his defense with the following words:
"In the crime of extortion, the prosecutor tried to extract 5 kilos of oil from 2 grams of flies. There is no crime, I believe you will acquit."
The hearing was adjourned for lunch. Tanju Özcan is expected to continue her defense in the afternoon session.
In the case, Tanju Özcan and Süleyman Can, as well as Ali Sarıyıldız and Mustafa Altındal, continue to be detained. The other 15 defendants are being tried without detention.
