According to a report by the Financial Crimes Investigation Office of the Turkish Ministry of Finance, arrested former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and his associates acquired a total of 25 properties and a significant amount of money illegally. This was reported by the Yeni Şafak newspaper, BTA reports.
The document states that the properties - including villas, apartments and offices - as well as over 63 million Turkish liras (about 1.38 million euros) and 637,000 euros in cash, were illegally acquired by Imamoglu and his entourage in seven separate cases. Among the names mentioned in the report are businessmen Ali Nuhoglu and Tuncay Yilmaz, as well as Imamoglu's father, Hasan Imamoglu, and his son, Mehmet Selim Imamoglu.
The office recommends confiscating assets that are said to have been acquired illegally.
Ekrem Imamoglu, considered a key opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on March 19 on corruption charges. On March 23, a court extended his pre-trial detention, and shortly afterwards the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality officially removed him from office. Imamoglu denies the charges, and his detention sparked a wave of protests described as the largest in the country since 2013.
Nevertheless, Imamoglu was nominated as the official candidate of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for the 2028 presidential election. However, the cancellation of his university degree in March temporarily prevents him from running for president.