Ministry probes municipality for writing off default interest of water bills
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The Ministry of Interior has launched an investigation against dismissed Siirt Co-Mayors Berivan Helen Işık and Peyman Dara Turhan and 23 other municipal council members in Turkey's eastern province of Siirt, asking "why they wrote off the default interest of outstanding water bills." Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has given permission to the investigation.
The investigation has been launched following the decision taken by the Siirt municipal council on December 3, 2019. With this decision, the municipal council wrote off 761 thousand 908 Turkish Lira (TRY), which accounts for 90 percent of the default interest of 2,413 subscribers' unpaid water bills of 861 thousand 956 TRY between January 6 and July 6, 2020.
The decision to write off the default interest of citizens' unpaid water bills was also supported by the municipal council members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Meanwhile, a trustee was appointed to the Siirt Provincial Municipality on May 22, 2020.
Learning of this incident, the Civil Inspection Board launched an inquiry regarding the issue. On September 4, 2020, the Board asked for a permission for investigation from Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu,
The Board indicated that writing off the interest of citizens' outstanding water bills is against the law, all of the default interests of the municipality's receivables cannot be written off without any conditions, the President has the authority to reduce and increase the default interest rates and the municipal council is not given any duty or authority in that regard.
Süleyman Soylu gave the requested permission to the Governor's Office of Siirt on February 22, 2021. The Governor's Office, on May 5, wrote to the Siirt Municipality and asked for the documents it had.
Dismissed co-mayor: We served the people
Removed from office by the Ministry of Interior, Siirt Co-Mayor Berivan Helen Işık has protested the investigation, saying, "All we wanted to do was to help people."
Noting that only the interest of the debts was written off, Işık has said:
"In that period, when unemployment increased and people were poorer, we took such a decision as the municipal council. There were some debts not paid for a long time. We both incited people to pay their debts and wanted to help the ones who had already been in a bad economic situation."
"We didn't commit a crime," Işık has underlined, adding, "Didn't the government write off the debts and the default interest of the pro-government companies a few months ago? It was apparently not a crime when they wrote off the debt of pro-government companies, but was it a crime when we wrote off the interest of people's debt? If there is a crime, they should look at the companies, the tax debts of which have been written off."
Turhan: They do the same in Diyarbakır, Batman
Dismissed Co-Mayor Dara Turhan has also said, "We put an option before the city dwellers who were unable to pay their outstanding water bills due to economic hardships. The municipal council made the right decision. It was a sound decision."
Turhan has noted that the interest of unpaid water bills was cut by 90 percent, thanks to which over 2 thousand people of Siirt paid their debt: "Citizens really welcomed this practice. The Siirt Municipality could collect its debts in this way. Several municipalities of the AKP and CHP made similar decisions. Still governed by trustees, Batman and Diyarbakır municipalities also collect the water debts by cutting interest.
"The reason why this investigation has been launched must be that the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) introduced this practice.
"It apparently doesn't lead to public loss when higher tax debts are written off, but does the state suffer a loss when the municipality provides the citizens with easy payment? Besides, water is a basic necessity that must be used by citizens without paying anything to municipalities."
Kebapçı: We didn't cause a loss
Muhsin Kebapçı, a municipal council member from the AKP, has said, "We didn't know that such a decision is against the law. We thought that it would be to the benefit of citizens. We will object to the decision of investigation."
Noting that the proposal to write off the interest of debts was made by the then Siirt Water and Sewerage Administration (SİSKİ) Director, Kebakçı has added:
"Citizens were unable to pay their debts. The municipality couldn't collect the debts. We wanted it to be an incentive for citizens and revenue for the municipality, which had already been in dire straits. We were unaware of its legal dimension. But we didn't write off the entire interest, as is written in the minutes of the investigation. We wrote off 90 percent. Several people benefited from this and paid off their debts. We didn't cause any losses for the municipality. On the very contrary, we tried to ensure that its debts were paid off; we served the citizens." (HA/SD)