Turkish President Linked to Corruption Charges

By AHMED JALLOW

In a case that Turkish president Reccip Tayyip Erdogan has condemned as a continuation of a coup attempt against him that took place last year, the key witness, Reza Zarrab, in Manhattan Federal Court testimony on Thursday, said Erdogan personally ordered two banks to participate in the elaborate scheme that helped Iran evade U.S sanctions.

Zarrab, 34, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors as part of a plea deal for taking part in a billion-dollar scheme to evade the sanctions.

The allegations about Erdogan, though brief, revealed the extent to which the Turkish president himself was involved in the scheme and marked the first time he has been implicated.

Zarrab testified that in 2012, a senior Turkish official told him that Erdogan— who was prime minster at the time— and another official, the treasury minister, had given orders for the two banks “to start doing this trade.”

This information, Zarrab testified, was relayed to him by then-economic minister, Zafer Caglayan, who said Erdogan directed Ziraat Bank and VakifBank, to take part in the scheme.

Zarrab also testified that he had paid bribes to the general manager of Halkbank, Sulayman Aslan —whom he said was a major player in the scheme— but had never bribed the defendant, Mehmet Hakam Atilla, the deputy manager of Halkbank.

The trial is putting a further dent into an already strained relationship between the the U.S and Turkey.

In September, Turkish president Erdogan, who had deemed the investigation “as a step against the Turkish Republic,” raised the matter with President Trump.

Erdogan reportedly gave a statement on Thursday before Zarrab’s testimony saying, “We did not breach the sanctions.”

“Whatever the verdict is, we did the right thing,” he said at a closed meeting with his deputies, according to reports. “We have never made commitments to the U.S. on our energy ties with Iran.”

“The world is not only about the U.S.,” he said. We also have a trade and energy relations with Iran.”

Both the defendant, Atilla, and Zarrab dressed in civilian clothes on Thursday after Judge Richard M. Berman gave them permission to do so —they had been in prison suits the previous day.