US judicial authorities accused a Turkish bank of attempting to transfer billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues

US judicial authorities accused a bank close to Turkey’s president of attempting to transfer billions of dollars in oil revenues from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office in New York announced on Tuesday, October 23, that Turkey’s “Halkbank” (People’s Bank) participated in a multi-billion dollar scheme to circumvent US sanctions against Iran.

The indictment against this state-owned bank in Turkey comes as in 2018 “Mehmet Hakan Atilla,” a former executive of Halkbank, was arrested and convicted in America for circumventing Iran sanctions. He was released last July after serving his sentence and went to Turkey. Turkey had criticized the judicial treatment of this Halkbank official at that time.

Jeffrey Berman, Federal Prosecutor in Manhattan, New York, said on Tuesday night that Halkbank’s participation in circumventing Iran sanctions was carried out with the support and protection of senior Turkish government officials.

Previously, Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish merchant imprisoned in America for circumventing Iran sanctions, had testified against Atilla and called him the mastermind behind circumventing US sanctions against Iran.

Source: Voice of America