The Turkish CEO of the Brooklyn construction company being scrutinized by the feds as part of a larger probe into Mayor Eric Adams’ fundraising previously ran another firm that was embroiled in two other corruption and bribery scandals more than a decade ago, according to public records.
The Williamsburg-based KSK Construction Group, which is run by Erden Arkan, was thrust into the spotlight last week after it emerged the feds were investigating whether Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with the company and Turkish government to obtain illegal political donations in exchange for kickbacks.
Years earlier prior to starting KSK, Arkan, who is Turkish, jointly headed another company — Kiska Construction — that was tied to back-to-back scandals involving the bribery of city workers in 2007 and 2008, public records resurfaced by The City show.
In the 2007 case, two city Department of Transportation officials were busted accepting $450,000 in bribes from a Kiska executive as the company was overseeing the $118 million reconstruction of the Third Avenue Bridge.
Investigators had said the DOT employees — Balram Chandiramani and Uday Shah — promised to work behind the scenes to help sign off on $16.5 million in extra charges that Kiska was trying to get in the wake of the bridge project.
The DOT duo were nabbed after an unnamed Kiska executive was arrested on undisclosed charges and agreed to wear a wire to bust the city employees, prosecutors said at the time.
“I’m going to do my best to see that this is resolved, OK?” Shah told the executive during one taped meeting in November 2006. “So you can make friends on the other side.”
Chandiramani and Shah, who both ended up pleading guilty in 2008, went on to serve one and three years in prison, respectively.
The second incident in 2008 involved Kiska — who at the time was working on the city’s High Line project — lavishing two city employees with expensive meals and giving one of their sons a free honeymoon to Turkey, according to reports at the time.
Nazir Mir and Leonard Greco, who worked for the Economic Development Corporation, were collectively fined $14,000 by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board after their dealings with Kiska came to light.
In addition to accepting the free meals at steakhouses, Mir faced an additional fine after Kiska footed the $4,000 bill for his son’s five-night stay at the Marmara Hotel in Istanbul while on his honeymoon.
In the aftermath, Kiska appeared to stop getting work from the city but was able to obtain several state-funded contracts — including $41.9 million to revamp Long Island’s Robert Moses Causeway.
Arkan, who started his current company KSK while still running Kiska, didn’t respond to The Post’s request for comment Monday.
Reports about Kiska’s history re-surfaced just days after federal agents raided the Crown Heights, Brooklyn home of top Adams campaign fundraiser Briana Suggs amid the wider investigation into Hizzoner’s campaign finances.
One of the probe’s focuses is whether Adams’ campaign conspired with KSK and the Turkish government to use “straw donors” to illegally funnel foreign cash into his campaign coffers in exchange for favors, law enforcement sources said.
A straw donor is a person or company which illegally makes a donation with someone else’s money but using their own name to hide its source.
Campaign records show that 11 individuals who listed their employer as KSK Construction made donations to Hizzoner’s campaign on the same day in May 2021 — and for nearly identical amounts.
Neither KSK, Arkan, the mayor or his top fundraiser have been charged with any crimes amid the probe.