As details emerge about the fire at the 'Masquerade' nightclub in Beşiktaşi İstanbul that claimed the lives of 29 people, bianet has uncovered significant information from the reports of the Court of Accounts.
According to the audit report for 2022 published by the Court of Accounts in November 2023, there are 20,135 active businesses within the boundaries of Beşiktaş Municipality. However, 17,228 of these businesses operate without proper licenses. In other words, 85.56% of the establishments in Beşiktaş are operating illegally.
Twenty-nine workers killed in fire during renovation work at İstanbul nightclub
The Court of Accounts addressed the situation in the report under two main headings: "The operation of some businesses within the municipal boundaries without obtaining a business opening and operating permit" and "Failure to impose closure penalties on businesses operating without obtaining a business opening and operating permit."
Regarding the first issue, the Court of Accounts referred to Article 81 of Law No. 2464 on Municipal Revenues, titled 'Business Opening Permit Fee,' stating, "It is necessary to ensure monitoring of whether businesses within the jurisdiction of the administration have business opening and operating permits, to apply administrative fines for the current year to establishments found to be operating without a permit, and to collect the business opening permit fee."
Regulation stipulates closure
Regarding the second issue, the Court of Accounts found that Beşiktaş Municipality had given warnings to businesses operating without obtaining business opening and operating permits.
Referring to the Regulation on Business Opening and Operating Permits published in the Official Gazette dated August 10, 2005, the Court of Accounts emphasized, "It is mandatory for unauthorized businesses to be closed by competent authorities without granting any period of time. In such cases, no period of time is granted."
They also added, "In case of detection of non-compliance with the legislation and deficiencies in inspections conducted after the issuance of the business opening and operating permit, it is possible to grant a one-time period of fifteen days for the business to rectify these deficiencies and errors. Granting a period of time to businesses operating without obtaining a business opening and operating permit is contrary to legal regulations."
2020 report
The issue of business licenses in Beşiktaş was also raised in the Court of Accounts report for 2020.
In 2020, the Court of Accounts determined that there were 44,365 active businesses within the municipal boundaries, of which only 9,214 had obtained business opening and operating permits to operate.
Based on this, the Court of Accounts noted in the 2022 report that despite two years having passed since 2020, the municipality had not fulfilled the commitments it made in 2020. (HA/VK)
