Friend of President’s son received millions in public tenders: Report

Duvar English

According to information released in the Public Procurement Bulletin, the municipality of Istanbul's Ümraniye district, run by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has signed a deal with a company owned by Barış Aksüs, a school friend of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son, Bilal Erdoğan. As part of the deal, the company sold 8.33 million liras worth of gravel to the municipality, according to reporting by daily Birgün on Feb. 1. 

The tender was opened on Jan. 10 and the government-linked company was granted the tender on Jan. 28. Aksüs’ company, Aksüs Yapı ve Entegre Waste İşletmeleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, provided 100,000 units of powder and gravel to the Ümraniye Municipality. 

According to updated Turkish prices, a ton of gravel costs approximately 25 Turkish liras. Therefore, the project in total should have cost approximately 2.5 million liras. 

This is yet another in a series of overpriced public tenders granted to close friends of the President and his son. Aksüs himself was granted tens of millions in tenders during the AKP rule of Istanbul Municipality. Between 2013 and 2015, when Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) was overseen by the AKP, the company received five tenders totaling 23.99 million liras. 

The company also received two separate tenders from Ümraniye Municipality in 2017 and 2018 worth a total of 11.07 million liras. 

Aksüs was also granted 28.2% of shares in Turkey’s leading Hydrogen Peroxide production company from ETİ Maden, which was established after the foundation of the Turkish Republic to oversee mining in Anatolia. All shares in the hydrogen peroxide company owned by ETİ Maden were transferred to Aksüs.