ANKARA, Nov 9 (AFP) - The Turkish parliament on Tuesday voted in favour of putting two former public works and housing ministers -- Koray Aydin and Yasar Topcu -- on trial on charges of corruption and abuse of office.
A total of 408 lawmakers in the 550-seat house voted to send Aydin before the Supreme Court -- the name under which the constitutional court, the country's top judicial body, tries public officials.
Nine deputies voted against the proposal.
Aydin is accused of corruption in tenders put out by his ministry, of failing to investigate allegations of fraud in tenders, and of accumulating unjustified personal wealth.
He is alleged to have personally chosen contractors close to his party to build houses for survivors of a massive earthquake in 1999, and enabled municipalities outside the quake-hit region to obtain a share of the financial aid allocated to the disaster area.
Aydin served in former prime minister Bulent Ecevit's coalition government, which ruled the country until the November 2002 elections that brought the current Justice and Development Party government to power.
In the vote on Topcu, 391 lawmakers said 'yes' to putting the former minister before court on allegations of corruption in a tender for building a highway, while 10 deputies cast 'no' votes.
The votes follow a far-reaching parliamentary inquiry into claims of large-scale fraud in tenders, sell-offs, banking reforms and energy projects over the past decade that have reportedly cost Turkey billions of dollars.
Parliament has already voted to put former prime minister Mesut Yilmaz and five other ex-ministers before the Supreme Court to answer corruption charges.
11/09/2004 23:17 GMT - AFP