He is among 200 defendants on a case that shed light on bribes and tender-rigging processes in municipalities that also netted prominent mayors of the CHP. Aktaş was released and sentenced to house arrest last year after his initial arrest in 2024, when he decided to collaborate with authorities. In January, the first hearing of defendants in the case was held in Istanbul. An indictment says Aktaş and his associates bribed their way into lucrative tenders and building permits. Several CHP mayors in Istanbul, including Beşiktaş’ Rıza Akpolat, Avcılar District Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, as well as mayors of southern city of Adana and southeastern city of Adıyaman were also named in the indictment. The latter two were released before the trial began.

An Istanbul court heard testimonies of 33 defendants so far in the previous hearings. Among them were Akpolat who faces prison terms up to 337 years on charges of corruption.

Aktaş faces prison terms up to 450 years for his role as the “leader of the criminal ring” as prosecutors defined him.

The arrests of Aktaş and Akpolat were first in a long line of investigations into alleged rampant corruption in CHP-run municipalities. In March 2025, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, a prominent figure in the party, was arrested on the same charges. More arrests followed on similar charges in the following months as investigations also expanded to other cities run by the CHP, such as Antalya in the south. The CHP claims the arrests are politically motivated and regularly holds public rallies to denounce them and call for release of mayors. The government insists that the judiciary is independent.

Prosecutors say Imamoğlu’s win in the 2024 election, where he secured a second term as Istanbul mayor, helped Aktaş’s criminal network to enter “into a golden age” of their corruption web. They say the network secured public tenders from the IBB and district municipalities of Türkiye’s most populated city since 2020, including Beşiktaş, Avcılar and Esenyurt municipalities.