Erdoğan’s palace cost more than $600 million, has spend $2,88 Billion during his time as Turkish PM. HT: TodaysZaman.
Ak Saray (white palace), which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will use as his new presidential building, cost more than TL 1 billion, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has announced.
Responding to questions by opposition lawmakers during budget talks in Parliament late on Monday, Şimşek said the new building cost TL 1.37 billion ($615 million). Stating that TL 964 million has already been spent on Ak Saray, Şimşek said the government allocated TL 300 million for the building from the 2015 budget.
Şimşek also announced the cost of the new presidential jet, an Airbus A330-200 Prestige, during the budget talks, saying the jet cost $185 million. (Nice to know TWO years ahead you'll be the next president) Noting that the government has not yet paid for the jet, which was purchased by Turkish Airlines (THY), Şimşek said the Prime Ministry will pay THY this year.
Meanwhile, during his 11 years as prime minister, Erdoğan made expenditures from the discretionary fund that amounted to 20.5 times that of the previous three prime ministers, according to opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Ali Serindağ, who spoke to the Cihan news agency during the budget talks in Parliament on Monday.
The discretionary fund is a special allocation for the use of the prime minister to finance covert operations with which the state may not be directly involved. According to the law, it is a crime to reveal how money from the discretionary fund is spent, and the prime minister's office is able to file a criminal complaint against anyone who makes the nature of this spending public.
According to Serindağ, Erdoğan made TL 6.4 billion worth of discretionary expenditures during his tenure as prime minister, while the three former prime ministers -- Necmettin Erbakan, Mesut Yılmaz and Tansu Çiller -- collectively spent only TL 312 million throughout a 10-year period.Read the full story here.
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