New Party (YP) Chair Özgür Özel is in hot water but appears dismissive of the mounting accusations against him.

Özel, who was ousted from the chairpersonship of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) last May, claimed that payments made informally to the CHP during his tenure were "not bribery."

"They said they paid money to cover the party's expenses. We paid each other and pooled our funds. How is that bribery?" Özel told journalists on Thursday in response to statements by corruption suspects who admitted handing over large sums of cash to Özel and his associates in the CHP.

The allegations are detailed in a parliamentary referral that prosecutors submitted to Parliament, seeking the removal of Özel's parliamentary immunity. The referral accuses Özel of "serial bribe-taking," based on an investigation that includes witness statements, phone records, and evidence of suspicious financial transactions ranging from TL 50 million ($1.05 million) to 1 million euros ($1.15 million).

Prosecutors allege that the transactions took place before the 2024 municipal elections and during the process leading to the CHP's 2023 party congress that brought Özel to power. It was the same congress that ultimately cost Özel his position after a court ruled that vote-buying allegations involving Özel's camp were sufficient to invalidate the election and reinstated his rival and the party's former chair, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, to the post in May.

Accounts relating to the conversion of a luxury VIP minibus for Özel's use, the purchase of a car, cash payments, and the provision of watches and handbags are also included in the case file against the YP chairperson.

Prosecutors allege that Özel used his influence to obtain benefits during candidate selection and election processes, either directly or through lawmaker Veli Ağbaba, a close associate who joined the YP when it was founded last month. Ağbaba also faces similar allegations that could lead to the lifting of his parliamentary immunity.

One of the allegations against Özel is that he obtained financial benefits from former Antalya mayor Muhittin Böcek and his son, Mustafa Gökhan Böcek, before the 2024 municipal elections in exchange for securing Böcek's nomination. He is also accused of receiving benefits from Özkan Yalım, the former mayor of the western province of Uşak. Both Yalım and Böcek were arrested in separate investigations into alleged corruption in the municipalities they governed.

The referral includes detailed testimony from Mustafa Gökhan Böcek. According to his statement, during the process of securing his father's nomination, Veli Ağbaba called him and said he was acting on Özel's instructions. Böcek stated that TL 30 million was initially requested, followed by 1 million euros. He said that after his father told him to "do what is necessary," he collected the money from businesspeople in Antalya and traveled to Ankara with his wife on Jan. 9, 2024. He stated that he delivered the money at CHP headquarters to Emre Caner, whom Ağbaba had instructed him to meet, and later identified him.

Mustafa Gökhan Böcek also stated that before a campaign launch event, Ağbaba told him that "TL 7 million or TL 8 million in cash would be good." He said that during the launch event in Antalya, he handed over $200,000 to a person sent by Ağbaba. Muhittin Böcek likewise stated that he instructed his son to "do what was necessary" regarding the financial demands of the party headquarters.

According to witness statements obtained during an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Onur Nasuh, Gökhan Böcek's chauffeur, said that TL 50 million was sent to the CHP's election headquarters in Istanbul to support Böcek's candidacy. Witness Sezgin Köysüren stated that he had heard $15 million was given to Özel's bodyguard, while another witness, Hüseyin Erkan Yılmaz, also testified that large sums of money had been paid.

Yalım, who cooperated with authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence, also told investigators that he paid 170,000 euros plus VAT for the conversion of a Mercedes V300 vehicle on Özel's instructions. He further stated that he partially financed the purchase of a car registered in Özel's father's name, sent luxury handbags to Özel's wife and daughter in 2022, bought another handbag at Özel's request, and gave him a wristwatch as a gift in 2019.

Yalım further stated that during the period leading up to the 2023 party congress, he left TL 200,000 in a plastic bag by the garden wall of Özel's home in Manisa on Özel's instructions. He also claimed that on Oct. 14, 2023, he handed TL 1 million to a man named Demirkan near CHP headquarters, again acting on the instructions of the party leadership.