U.S. Indictment Against Several Former Turkish Officials Related to Iran Sanctions

The U.S. Attorney's Office has issued an indictment against several former senior officials in the Turkish government and former advisors to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in connection with alleged covert assistance to the Iranian government to circumvent sanctions. The indictment, filed on September 6 in a Manhattan court, accuses Mohammad Zafar Chaglayan, former Minister of Economy, of receiving tens of millions of dollars in bribes in cash and jewelry for cooperating and assisting in evading sanctions and concealing financial transfers of the Iranian government through the U.S. financial system. This new indictment is part of the case against Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian businessman who was arrested last year. Mr. Zarrab is accused of abusing the U.S. financial and banking network for transactions with Iran, thus violating U.S. sanctions against Tehran. He has denied the charges in earlier stages of the case. Among those indicted are Zafar Chaglayan (former Minister of Economy), alongside Mehmet Güler and Egeman Bagis, Suleyman Aslan, former CEO of the state bank 'Halkbank', Levent Balkan, his deputy, and Mohammad Atilla, who are also accused of assisting Zarrab in the misuse and circumvention of sanctions for financial transfers of the Iranian government. Besides Zarrab, Mr. Atilla is currently detained in New York. The trial for these two is set to begin on October 30 - nearly two months from now. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, other individuals named in the indictment are being pursued. In December 2013, Turkish media reported the arrest of Reza Zarrab and dozens of others, including Turkish government officials, on charges of money laundering and illegally transferring billions of dollars from Iran to Turkey. Among the detainees were several children of members of Erdoğan's government and heads of Turkish banks, including Reza Aslan. Some of the detainees were formally charged. In May 2014, the Turkish prosecutor's office announced it did not consider the financial corruption case valid and issued a non-prosecution order for the accused. In October of the same year, the Turkish prosecutor's office declared the case closed. The arrests were met with reactions and threats from Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who, at the time, was Prime Minister, described the arrests as a 'dirty operation' against his government and accused some foreign ambassadors of being involved, warning that he would expel them from Turkey. The judge overseeing Zarrab's case in the U.S. allowed Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York and an advisor to Donald Trump in last year's election campaign, and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to represent him. Reports indicated that Mr. Zarrab hired Giuliani and Mukasey with the aim of reaching some form of reconciliation and diplomatic solution between the U.S. and Turkish governments. Both Giuliani and Mukasey have met and discussed Zarrab's case with U.S. officials and Erdoğan, who is now the President of Turkey, openly seeking a resolution to this case.