BRIBED IN, SQUEEZED OUT: AN IPO TALE FROM BURSA
With the investment fund scandal still unfolding, a new allegation has come to light: companies were asked for bribes to secure approval from the Capital Markets Board (SPK) to go public.
Analysis
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With the investment fund scandal still unfolding, a new allegation has come to light: companies were asked for bribes to secure approval from the Capital Markets Board (SPK) to go public.
A check allegation pits Medya A.Ş. executives against each other, while Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu is expected to deliver his main defense next week, by the end of the second session of the Istanbul municipality corruption trial.
Jailed Antalya Mayor Muhittin Böcek faces new criminal allegations involving prostitution and abuse of office, following his earlier arrest in a corruption probe, according to media reports.
Allegations of ill-treatment, strip searches and prosecutorial threats dominated this week's hearings at the Istanbul Municipality corruption trial, as defendants described abusive detention conditions and coerced statements.
Hearings have begun in a corruption probe involving municipalities run by the main opposition CHP, following investigations launched in March 2025. The case marks the first major trial stemming from the allegations, ahead of a separate prosecution involving Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu that is set to begin on March 9. The CHP’s legal strategy and the court’s approach to the defendants are expected to shape Turkey’s political agenda over the many years the trials are expected to take.
The pressure is mounting on Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and his party CHP, with investigations about the corruption allegations now extending to his immediate family and allied journalists, as CHP Chair Özgür Özel tries to challenge the government by divulging the misdoings of Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akın Gürlek.
A lawsuit seeking to annul the results of the CHP’s 2023 congress—based on allegations that delegates were bribed—has triggered a renewed power struggle between current Chair Özgür Özel and his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
The CHP is facing an unprecedented convergence of crises one after the other. Afyonkarahisar Mayor Burcu Köksal has defected to the AKP. Jailed Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım and Antalya Mayor Muhittin Böcek have applied for the effective remorse law, alleging they paid CHP Chair Özgür Özel and his close ally MP Veli Ağbaba in exchange for nomination in the municipal elections. The allegations have raised the spectre of closure proceedings against the party — with Özel increasingly in the crosshairs.
The 34th day of the corruption trial targeting Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and dozens of officials linked to the CHP and Istanbul Municipality saw the mayor in tears as he questioned a defendant — soon after he declared that the allegations in the indictment were collapsing one by one.
The deal to resolve the case over allegations that Halkbank helped Iran evade American sanctions was announced on March 9, at the height of U.S.-Israeli attacks against Iran.
Gendarmes arrested CHP’s Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan March 2, just as the party was bracing for the trial on corruption allegations concerning the Istanbul Municipality.
The trial over corruption allegations at the Istanbul Municipality — a case expected to last for years — begins March 9, with 402 defendants, including 105 under arrest, among them Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.