Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is involved in the case of violating the US and international embargo against Iran, Turkish-Iranian gold trader Riza Zarab, testifying for the second day in federal court in Manhattan.
Zarab, 34, who pleaded guilty a few days ago to the case in which eight people are accused, including former Finance Minister Jafar Chaglayan, is testifying as a protected prosecution witness.
"What I am saying is that then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the finance minister ordered this deal to begin," Zarab said in response to a question from the prosecutor. He also named then-Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan.
Although Erdogan's name was mentioned several times by Riza Zarab, this emerges from a "second-hand" briefing of the witness.
Instead, he continued the revelations about the role of former Finance Minister Chaglayan, for whom he had testified yesterday that they were sharing the profits from the "business" 50-50. Mr. Zarab submitted to the court the books of his business to prove what was said. According to them, the sums that Chaglayan had received exceeded 52 million dollars.
"As reported, the bribe-takers included the General Manager of the state-owned Turkish bank Halkbank, Suleyman Aslan, who asked for the saying" one hand washes the other and the other washes the face ".
Aslan is on the run in Turkey, and at the moment the only defendant present at the trial and in the hands of the US authorities is the Deputy General Manager of the bank, Mehmet Hakan Attila, for whom Zarab said that he planned the whole system of violation of sanctions. .
The witness referred to several meetings with representatives of Iranian state-owned companies in which he was present, the former Minister of Finance, as well as the General Manager with the Deputy General Manager of Halkbank. However, so far the facts he has reported about Hakan Attila are not so overwhelming, according to legal circles that are following the trial, which is important since the verdict that the jurors will be called to give will concern the only defendant present and not them. fugitives.
Finally, continuing to explain the complex system set up for the violation of sanctions, Zarab involved in addition to Halkbank another Turkish bank, a bank in Dubai, through which they bought gold with which they allegedly paid for food purchases, and an Indian one.
On the second day of his deposition, Zarab wore political clothes and not the prisoner's uniform. He said he did so after the judge gave him permission, while at the same time saying that he was transferred from prison to a place guarded by the FBI, out of fear for his life.