ISTANBUL: Police in Turkey have detained nearly 70 people in raids linked to alleged corruption at Istanbul City Hall, two months after the jailing of its mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, media reports said Friday.
Around 44 people were arrested in dawn raids on Friday, with police still searching for another five in line with a warrant for 49 people issued by the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office, the BirGun newspaper reported.
Another 20 were picked up in a string of operations that began on Tuesday, the newspaper said.
Imamoglu was arrested then jailed two months ago on corruption charges he denies, a move that sparked Turkey’s worst protest in decades.
He was widely seen as the biggest political rival to longtime President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his jailing is likely to prevent him from running in the 2028 presidential election.
Among those picked up in the latest raids were Imamoglu’s private secretary and his private protection officer, with police conducting raids across Turkey, it said.
In a statement published early Friday, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office said it had ordered the police’s financial crimes unit to arrest 49 people with “detention, search and seizure operations ongoing”.
It said the warrant was in connection with unspecified “irregularities”.
Another 20 people were detained in arrest operations that began on May 20 for allegedly organising irregular tenders and accepting bribes, among them City’s Hall’s head of public relations, BirGun said late Thursday.
