‘Ghost Vehicle’ Investigation Into Bolu Municipality Sends Seven to Court

Seven Bolu municipal employees have been sent to court in the “ghost vehicle” investigation involving alleged payments for garbage trucks that were not working.

Bolu prosecutors allege that some garbage collection vehicles were recorded as operating on days when they were inactive. The alleged records resulted in 34,288,376 Turkish lira in excess and improper payments to a contractor, according to the investigation.

Authorities issued detention orders for 23 people, including detained Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, Deputy Mayor Gülden Özaydın, municipal managers and employees, and company officials. Özcan was already in custody. The other 22 suspects were detained in simultaneous operations across seven provinces and taken to provincial and district gendarmerie commands.

The seven people sent to court after questioning were members of the municipal inspection and acceptance commission, municipal staff, a finance department employee, the head of the tender and procurement unit, and an environmental engineer. Their court proceedings were continuing.