Municipal executive appointed by trustee mayor ousted after million-lira heist

A municipal official appointed by Van's trustee mayor was ousted after an investigation revealed that he had funneled over a million liras of public funds into his private accounts. Municipal company BELVAN Transportation's general manager Suat Kaya Kaya was appointed to this position for a second time by the government-appointed trustee mayor, who replaced an elected official from the HDP.

Friday March 26 2021 11:24 am

Police wait outside of the Van Municipality building following the removal of HDP officials from their posts in the summer of 2019.

Duvar English

An official appointed by the trustee mayor of the eastern province of Van to govern the municipal company BELVAN Transportation, Suat Kaya was ousted from his post after an investigation revealed that he had conducted a million-lira heist, Mesopotamia Agency reported on March 26.

Kaya reportedly transferred public funds to a private bank account without the knowledge of the shareholder company, totaling over 750,000 liras in transfers in 2018 alone.

Kaya continued to funnel public funds into his private accounts in 2019, reaching a total of 1,178,000 Turkish Liras he took away from the public.

Kaya was appointed to this position for a second time by the government-appointed trustee mayor, who replaced an elected official from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

After the HDP administration took over the office in the 2019 local elections, it removed Kaya from his post at BELVAN as it detected his corruption in projects including a city park.

Appointed to the municipality as a trustee mayor on Aug. 18, 2019, less than six months after the HDP administration won office in a landslide, Mehmet Emin Bilmez reinstated Kaya to his post at BELVAN.

Less than four months after his reinstatement, Kaya was removed from BELVAN once again by the same trustee administration that installed him.

It is not known whether a legal proceeding against the government-appointed official has been launched or not.