The former Beşiktaş Mayor Murat Hazinedar and 16 other people were indicted in March 2023 for allegedly committing crimes of extortion and bribery in relation to zoning decisions in the Beşiktaş municipality. They allegedly requested bribes in the forms donations to the Beşiktaş Municipality Beltaş Foundation in exchange for the approval of zoning applications. The trial in this case is still ongoing.

The 55-page long indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on Terrorism and Organised Crimes Investigation Bureau was accepted by the Istanbul 31st high criminal court in March 2023. Previously, civil inspectors of the Ministry of Interior prepared a report and filed a criminal complaint to the prosecutor’s office about alleged crimes of extortion and bribery committed by employees of the Beşiktaş municipality. Within the scope of investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Terrorism and Organised Crimes Investigation Bureau and the Istanbul Financial Branch Directorate, 17 people were implicated in crimes of establishing and managing an organisation for the purpose of committing a crime, and being members of an organisation established for the purpose of committing a crime. Acting upon the instructions of the prosecutor's office, Istanbul police department’s teams from the financial crimes branch issued arrest warrants for 17 people, among which were the former mayor of Beşiktaş municipality, the former vice mayors Rıfat Örnek, Hüseyin Avni Sipahi and a police chief, Selçuk Bartınlı. The indictment states that applicants for zoning approvals were asked to deposit donations to the Beşiktaş Municipality Beltaş Foundation in exchange for their documents being approved, and notes that most applicants agreed to it to avoid suffering losses if their application were to be rejected. The indictment further notes that the ‘donations’ collected in this way were not spent in line with the law but that a large portion of the money was distributed to the mayor and his deputies, who were the trustees of the foundation, justified as ‘attendance fees’. According to the indictment, the former mayor Hazinedar ran the municipality like a firm, bringing in his family members and friends, treating it like a private business rather than serving in the public interest. He was removed from his post as mayor in 2018.

In December 2022, Hazinedar was arrested in relation to the Beşiktaş municipality bribery and extortion case. The Istanbul 31st high criminal court decided to release Hazinedar and the two detained defendants, Çetin Kırışgil and Hüseyin Avni Sipahi with an international travel ban in May 2023. The second hearing in this case was held in October 2023, while the third was held in October 2024, and the trial is still ongoing. As of January, 2025, Murat Hazinedar has denied the allegations made against him.

Corruption in Turkish municipalities is becoming a serious issue, particularly following a series of allegations of grand corruption following the local elections in March 2024 in which the opposition made huge gains. It was revealed that a number of large value tenders were awarded across different municipalities shortly before the elections. Corruption risks are particularly prominent in public contracting and may lead to wasteful spending negatively affecting economic and infrastructure development.