Defense of the undetained defendants in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality tender case at the Istanbul 33rd High Criminal Court

At the hearing held by the Istanbul 33rd High Criminal Court in the hall opposite the Marmara Closed Penal Institution, the defendant businessman Mustafa Başar Arıoğlu, who is not under arrest, made his defense.

In his defense, Arıoğlu said that he was responsible for many important and difficult projects in the company he worked for, such as the Istanbul Metro, Izmir Metro, Dubai Metro, Eurasia Tunnel and Çanakkale Bridge, and that he was one of the construction site managers while their company was building the first metro in Istanbul. Stating that the tender subject to the indictment was organized by the tender commission itself, Arıoğlu argued that the claim that there was a predetermined agreement between them and the administration was not true.

Defendant Arıoğlu said, "The fact that we left empty-handed in both tenders as a result of the cancellation in the first tender and elimination in the second tender is the most concrete indication that there is no such agreement." he said. Explaining that they decided to participate in the tender after their company was invited by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Arıoğlu noted that this participation was based on their company's connection with Istanbul's first metro, which was built 35 years ago.

Arıoğlu explained that they met with Fatih Keleş at an IMM Rowing Skiing Sports facility in the Golden Horn about a month before bidding for the tender, and made the following statement: "When we went here, they said, 'If you win this tender, we may ask you to do some social assistance work for the municipality.' they said. I also said that the technical risks of this project were high and the profit margin was very low, but we could not make any guarantees or promises about how much assistance we could provide, and that we could consider some of the demands that would be made for us while doing the work, if they were very small and we could record them in our company books. "The examples given by Fatih Keleş regarding the demands in question were social issues such as social facilities, iftar or dinner tents, and neighborhood market arrangements that should be built by the municipality."

Stating that they left without making any commitments, Arıoğlu said, "Then we conveyed this to our business partners in the tender, and we agreed with our business partners that we cannot accept open-ended demands, even for progress payments and social assistance. After this meeting, we did not have any meetings with Fatih Keleş until after the tender." he said. Arıoğlu stated that Keleş later said that the cancellation of the tender was deemed appropriate by the relevant authorities because the competitive conditions were not sufficiently established, and said, "We have not had any meetings with Fatih Keleş other than the meetings I mentioned, we have not had any agreement with him or anyone else. We did not provide any financial benefit to him or anyone he directed, we did not even mention them. As I explained above, there is no accepted offer, an agreed-upon issue or promise of benefit." made his defense.

The unarrested defendant, IMM engineer Burak Salman, also stated that he was accused of "tender rigging" and claimed that he did not accept the claim that he violated the confidentiality of the approximate cost in the tender, that he did not share the approximate cost with anyone, and that there was no concrete evidence in the file regarding this.

Unarrested defendant businessman Selim Özderya stated that he has been a public contractor and industrialist for 30 years, that he has been working with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality since 2008, and that he participated in nearly 100 tenders between 2019 and 2024, and that the job he received before 2019 was canceled and two jobs that he was supposed to receive were not given to him.

Defendant Özderya, who said that his progress payments were paid very late, made the following statement: "In this process, I had to take out a loan of approximately 600 million with the money of that date, with high interest rates of up to 55 percent. I was very stuck. I had to pay the cash amounts requested from me in my statement, in order to prevent my companies from going bankrupt under the extraordinarily negative economic conditions I was in because I could not receive my receivables. Despite this, my progress payments were paid very late. Even on the date of the statement. "I had a receivable of nearly 750 million. This receivable was paid in about a year. I did not request or receive any unfair benefit from the administration."

The Public Prosecutor said, "In your statement to the prosecutor's office, you mentioned a conversation with Fatih Keleş, the 10 percent, 5 percent issue. How did you achieve this?" Defendant Özderya said, "I had a job that was canceled in 2019. I went to the administration and wanted to explain this situation. The head of the department at that time said that the job would be canceled due to insufficient funds. Then I went to Mr. Fatih. I informed Fatih Bey about the issue. He was the advisor to the President at that time." he replied.

"'10 PERCENT TO ANYONE ELSE, BUT 5 PERCENT TO YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE MY CITIZEN.' HE SAID"

The prosecutor said, "In your first statement, according to your claim, Fatih Keleş had previously asked 'How are the processes going?' he asked. After that, you are talking about a ratio issue. As you walk out the door, '10 percent for someone else, but 5 percent for you because you're a fellow countryman.' he said.' you said. And you said to him, 'Write whatever you want, I'm not writing anything,' and left.' You have a statement like this: Where did this happen?" Defendant Özderya answered the question: "In his office, on the 5th floor of Bakırköy Additional Service Building." he replied.

The Public Prosecutor said, "Again, in your later statements, you gave Zafer Keleş 20 million lira in four pieces at your construction site, probably in Florya. How did this happen?" Defendant Özderya gave the following answer to the question:

"Zafer Keleş came to me. Kayabaşı came to my construction site. There he said that they needed money and asked me for money to be distributed to people in need. I am not in a situation like mine anyway, I almost need help, I cannot get what I owe. We had some conversations during this time. Since it was very difficult for me to receive my payments after that, Zafer Keleş said, 'If you help the administration, the administration will also help you.' They made statements like this: "I had to give it up because I couldn't get my payments." Özderya said that the prosecutor said, "You mentioned 20 million lira in 4 pieces. How did you deliver them?" "I gave two of these at my construction site. I gave two of them to Zafer Keleş in Florya. I did not issue a receipt." he replied.

The Public Prosecutor said, "Again, here is your statement about Arif Gürkan Alpay. You gave food cards of 750 thousand liras in 2022, 1 million 200 thousand liras in 2023, and 3 million liras in 2024. How did this happen?" Defendant Özderya, to whom he asked the question, said, "We were already holding meetings in the administration from time to time. Before Ramadan, Mr. Arif said, 'Ramadan is coming, can you help?' he said. So I set my own price, I brought my own figure to 750 thousand liras. Later, when we had meetings again, they said, 'Ramadan is approaching, brother, you helped me next term, can you do it now?' he said. 'Okay.' I said. I left the food cards at the secretariat. There are documents on file." he said.

The prosecutor said, "I think you had a meeting about Ufuk Karakaya again. Ufuk Karakaya victimized you and said, 'You too help us, this way you will get what you are owed faster.' There was a conversation like this. 'Let it be something around 5-10 million, you leave it to the president in Florya.' There was a saying: How did this incident happen?" Defendant Özderya answered the question as follows: "Again, I went to the Additional Service Building in Bakırköy to collect my receivables. Mr. Ufuk told about the earthquake. He said that there were people in need of help during the earthquake. 'Whatever they need, let me get it and send it.' I said. He said to me then, 'Brother, everyone is plundering, let's give it in cash as the presidency, you bring it and drop it off in Florya.' 'Okay.' I said and left. "I left the other money to Zafer Keleş because I gave it to him."

"PAYMENT WAS MADE TO SÜLEYMAN ATIK WITH HIS REFERENCE"

Businessman Mehmet Faruk Baştürk, one of the detained defendants, stated that he repeated his previous defenses and asked for his acquittal. During his cross-examination, the trial prosecutor asked Baştürk, "In your statement, you said that you gave 13 million lira. To whom did you deliver the money?" posed the question.

Thereupon, Baştürk said, "Süleyman Atik. It could be the employee he sent or himself." he replied. When asked how the process developed, Baştürk said, "The process took place with the guidance of Yakup Öner. It started with Yakup Öner's support for a nursery. Then, with his guidance, the payment was made to Süleyman Atik." he said. When asked where he delivered the payment, Baştürk said, "The mobile phone was shared. The address was determined by speaking to that phone, and delivery was made at that address twice." he said. At the hearing, the defense of 15 undetained defendants was also taken, and the defense of a total of 247 undetained defendants in the case was completed. The hearing has been postponed until tomorrow.