In May 2024, the Kocaeli branch of the Hürriyetçi education union filed a criminal complaint with the Kocaeli courthouse after teachers working at a school in Kocaeli province discovered discrepancies between their pay slips and the salaries they received.

Teachers at Gölcük Saraylı Secondary School in Gölcük district allegedly discovered that the extra lesson fees listed on their pay slips were three times higher than the amounts they received in their bank accounts. Upon further investigation, they found that this scheme had been ongoing for approximately four years, with the difference in extra lesson fees being transferred to different bank accounts.

Following these allegations, the Kocaeli branch president of the Hürriyetçi education union, Adem Ellialtıoğlu, filed a complaint with the Kocaeli courthouse against school principal Mehmet Hafiz Arvas, who was responsible for calculating extra lesson fees, as well as against the district support services chief and staff who reviewed and approved transactions, the branch manager, and the Gölcük district director of national education for bribery, abuse of office, and forgery of official documents.

In response, both the Kocaeli chief public prosecutor's office and the Kocaeli provincial directorate of national education launched an investigation into the matter.

According to Levent Kuruoğlu, leader of the education union Hürriyetçi Eğitim Sen, the irregularities in the Gölcük district secondary school amounted to TRY4.5 million (approx. €110,000) affecting eight teachers. School principal Mehmet Hafiz Arvas admitted to the allegations, after which Gölcük district national education director Caferi Tayyar Mert requested his retirement. Following an order from the Kocaeli chief public prosecutor and a request from the Gölcük public prosecutor, the school principal’s retirement bonus and bank accounts were frozen and a travel ban imposed.

The report of the Ministry of National Education inspection board from September 2024 found that Mehmet Hafiz Arvas caused public loss of nearly TRY2 million (approx. €50,000) through the extra lesson fee scam. The inspectors who wrote the report stated that, based on the evidence, Arvas committed aggravated fraud, and demanded his removal from civil service. Following the publication of the report, the Gölcük chief public prosecutor's office reacted and, on 25 December 2025, Arvas appeared before the court, and was sent to prison.