TUBITAK affiliated company's manager gets %60 raise while employees gets pay cut
General Manager of MARTEK, which is one of the company works under TUBITAK, Orhan Çömlek, paid monthly salary of 32 thousand TL appeared. The salary of the personnel was cut off in spite of the 60% salar increase of Çömlek
Mustafa Mert Bildircin
The Audit Report included striking findings about TÜBİTAK Marmara Teknokent (MARTEK), which was established with the aim of "providing technology services at high standards for domestic and foreign entrepreneurs" and "conducting AR-GE activities".
In the 2016 Audit Report, MARTEK’S cost of personnel increased by 40 percent compared to the previous turnover and reached at 8 thousand 864 TL. The auditors stated that although there was no legal restrictions on the employee's wage regarding Martek, it can not ignore the Turkey's economic and social conditions.
The Court of Accounts reminded that the administrative fees of public companies with strategic presets such as BOTAŞ, TOKİ and MKE are 13 thousand TL in total, while MARTEK General Manager Orhan Çömlek got 384 thousand 994 TL including the bonuses was paid in 2016.
It is learned that the rate of the hike made compared to the year 2015 is close to 60 percent. The auditors notes that the payment made to the Çömlek corresponded to 32,282 liras per month. "While it is obligatory to show the wages and rights paid to the General Directorate in the annual activity report, MARTEK fail to comply it".
The report emphasized that the amount of salary paid to the General Manager should be determined according to the signatures and performance evaluations of the members of the Board of Directors.
Absence of the Board of Directors evaluations and signatures invalidates the identity of the payments and makes it illegitimately deprive of all payments made based on this statement. The auditors make a propasal to the institution about taking the extra payments back from the responsible ones.
In spite of the 60 percent increase in the salary of the General Manager of MARTEK, social expenditures made to company personnel decreased by 36 percent compared to the previous turnover. It is stated that social benefits realized as 366 thousand TL in 2015, decreased to 233 thousand TL in 2016.
Unlawful expenditure
One of the most striking irregularities that lived in MARTEK and attached to the Court of Accounts audits was that automatic payment instructions were given to three credit cards from the institution's bank accounts. The Court of Cassation found that two of the credit cards were used by the general manager and the purchasing officer. The Court of Accounts found that while the total amount spent by the purchasing officer on the credit card was 872 liras, 28,177 liras were spent from one of the credit cards used by the General Manager, and 20,551 liras from the other.
The auditors who underlined that the receipts, invoices and supporting documents for certain expenditures made from these cards were not submitted, documented that the sum of expenditures not legally accepted for the year 2016 is 23 thousand 653 TL.
No legal base
MARTEK employees were given bonus which has no legal base, reflected in the Court of Accounts reports.
Emphasizing that the 29th article of the Operating Procedures and Principles stating that the personnel can be given two bonuses a year, the Court of Accounts documented that three bonuses were awarded to MARTEK employees including the General Manager in 2016. It was stated that the two of the three hits were made in the light of the Law No. 6992, but that there was no legal basis for the third hoot.
Translated by Pınar YÜKSEK