The 'Corruption' investigation against Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was suspended from his post as the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and arrested, was completed and a 3,809-page indictment was prepared on November 11, 2025. Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is mentioned as the 'organization leader' in the indictment; 'Establishing an organization for the purpose of committing a crime', 'Bribery', 'Laundering of proceeds of crime', 'Fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organizations', 'Recording personal data', 'Seizing and disseminating personal data', 'Hiding evidence of crime', 'Obstructing communications', 'Damaging public property', 'Taking bribes', 'Disseminating misleading information to the public', 'Extortion', 'Property resulting from crime' It was claimed that he committed the crimes of "laundering values", "tender rigging", "deliberate pollution of the environment", "opposition to the tax procedure law", "opposition to the forest law" and "opposition to the mining law". It is requested that İmamoğlu be sentenced to imprisonment from 828 years and 2 months to 2,352 years for 142 actions.
'ALL TENDERS ARE DOCUMENTED'
Eyüp Subaşı, the unarrested defendant who was released by taking advantage of the effective remorse provisions, said in his defense: "Panoffect Media is a company I founded by taking commercial risks without receiving a penny from public resources. In the tender we have entered, we have paid a total of 682 million in rent to Kültür A.Ş., the public and the municipality. In addition, as the Panoffect Media group of companies, we have made an investment of over 20 million dollars, 2 billion. Where is the public harm in this? Despite this, today we are both causing public damage and I bear the responsibility of being accused of fraud. The basis of the indictment is the tenders made between my companies and IMM and its subsidiaries. All of these tenders are documented, commercial and real. In the meeting held first with Fatih Keleş and Tuncay Yılmaz at Mermerciler Sanayi Sitesi, and then with Murat Ongun at the İBB Communication Tent in October 2021, I did not want to throw away my work, I did not accept it. I spent sleepless nights at Merter Plaza Reklamist office with Murat Ongun, Tuncay Yılmaz, Uğurhan Atma, Nihat Sütlaş, which were not acceptable for me. The conditions set before us were a commercial wreck for me. I left the table because I was unwilling to agree on the transfer figure. After this negative meeting, some of our advertising places were reduced. In fact, I evaluated this as a systematic intimidation and forcing an agreement. The transfer figure that we had agreed upon was reduced to 46 million with the guidance of Ongun, and we had to accept the transfer figure as a ridiculous figure due to our debt to Kültür A.Ş. Moreover, this only corresponded to our 1-year rent amount under the conditions of that period. Within the scope of effective regret, I explained the system I encountered and the demands I was subjected to while continuing my business, and the pressures I was subjected to. I stand behind my statement in general terms and content. However, I do not accept that my statement should be interpreted as membership in an organization. "I am a part of this process as a victim," he said.
'I HEAR FROM THE MOUTH OF CONSULTANTS IT IS CALLED SYSTEM'
The presiding judge asked Subaşı, "What do you mean by system? Who was using this word?" he asked the question. Subaşı said, "We can deduce that this structure is a system because the term system is constantly uttered, especially by consultants. If Fatih Keleş makes a request, Ertan Yıldız makes a request, or has a systematic direction when you want to do a job, I perceive this as a systematic phenomenon. At the end of the day, you become unable to do some work unless the system allows it. I heard it from the consultants' mouth. It is called a system."
'THEY ATTEMPTED TO PUT PRESSURE ON ME'
Utilizing effective remorse, the unarrested defendant Adem Tuncay, Director of Advertising Management at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, said, "During my time in prison, especially after the release of Hakan Karaköse, high-level people from the municipality who had never visited me before, who introduced themselves as council members, and even one or two members of parliament, started to visit me personally. I met with one of them, and I wrote a petition to inform the prison administration that I did not want to meet with someone. I even remembered a person whose name was Ülkü, who introduced himself as a council member." When the lady visited me in prison after Karaköse's release, after making some statements such as "What could he have said, could he have slandered me?", she asked me in an irrelevant way, whether I was living in the municipality's housing or not. Under the circumstances of that day, this situation had little to do with the topic we were talking about. I did not perceive this as an ordinary question of curiosity, but as an implicit message that made me feel that my living space was known. "In short, after the release of Hakan Karaköse, an indirect suggestion was made and an attempt was made to put pressure on me," he said.
THE HEARING HAS BEEN POSTPONED
The hearing was postponed to 10:00.
