US prosecutors accuse Turkish bank of trying to move billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenue
US judicial authorities have accused a bank close to the Turkish president of attempting to divert billions of dollars in oil revenue from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The US federal prosecutor's office in New York announced on Tuesday night, October 13, that Turkey's Halkbank was involved in a multi-billion dollar scheme to circumvent US sanctions against Iran.
The indictment against the state-owned bank in Turkey comes after former Halkbank executive Mehmet Hakan Attila was arrested and convicted in the United States in 2018 for evading sanctions on Iran. He was released last July after serving his sentence and returned to Turkey. At the time, Turkey criticized the judicial treatment of the Halkbank official.
Federal prosecutor Jeffrey Berman in Manhattan, New York, said Tuesday night that Halkbank's involvement in circumventing Iran sanctions was supported and protected by senior Turkish government officials.
Previously, Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish businessman imprisoned in the United States for circumventing sanctions on Iran, had testified against Attila, calling him the mastermind behind the circumvention of US sanctions against Iran.
Source: Voice of America
