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Two separate investigations have been opened against 72 municipal officials in Mardin for corruption in hundreds of millions lira worth of public tenders, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reported.
The city's former governor and "trustee mayor" Mustafa Yaman is also among those under investigation.
In August 2019, the Ministry of Interior appointed Yaman as the trustee after dismissing mayor Ahmet Türk of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) because of a "terrorism-related" investigation against him.
The HDP won 65 city, district and town municipalities in the 2019 local elections, but the government has taken over all but a handful of them for the same reason.
Releasing a "trustee report" in August 2020, the HDP pointed out widespread corruption in the municipalities seized from it.
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After inspections carried out at the municipality following the dismissal of Yaman, five separate investigations and lawsuits were filed, according to MA.
The Ministry of Interior permitted two investigations concerning the irregularities in public tenders lodged by the municipality's Investment Monitoring Coordination Directorate (YİKOB). Civil inspectors reportedly found irregularities in 36 public tenders worth 540 million lira (~63.8 million USD).
Among the irregularities are making payments for works that were not done and roads that were never built, as well as registering pre-existing buildings as newly constructed, according to inspection reports.
Also, the municipality made 98.26 million lira (~11.6 million USD) of extra payments to contractor firms, the inspectors found.
On March 15, the ministry permitted an investigation against 55 people concerning irregularities 15 public tenders. On March 17, it permitted another investigation against 33 people regarding the irregularities in 21 tenders, MA reported.
Former trustee Yaman's name is included in the both investigation files. (SO/VK)
