Gold trader implicates Turkey’s Erdogan in Iran sanctions trial

New York (dpa) - A Turkish-Iranian gold trader testified in a New York courtroom on Thursday that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan knew about a scheme to skirt US sanctions against Iran.

Reza Zarrab said former Turkish economics minister Zafer Caglayan told him Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time, had given approval for two more Turkish banks to participate in the elaborate oil-for-gold scheme to pay for Iranian oil purchases banned by US and UN sanctions, as he gave testimony for a second day.

Erdogan told state broadcaster TRT Haber earlier on Thursday: “We did the right thing no matter what comes out of the court case. We did not violate the embargo.”

The Iran sanctions case has been dismissed by Turkish authorities as a “theatre.”

”What justice do we expect from such a court? I do not expect justice from there. Those who wrote this script are doing what is needed for the script,” Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag told state-run news agency Anadolu.

Zarrab, the alleged mastermind behind the scheme who has turned witness for the US prosecution, said on Wednesday he had paid an estimated 45 million to 50 million euros in bribes to Caglayan to keep quiet about the scheme, through bank transfers, valuable items and in cash.

The only person on trial now is Mehmet Atilla, a former Halkbank deputy chief executive, defending against charges including bank fraud and sanctions violations.

Zarrab told the court on Thursday he also paid tens of millions in bribes to Suleyman Aslan, the former head of Halkbank, but not Atilla, because he didn’t ask for any money.

Explaining why he did not bribe anyone else, Zarrab said through an interpreter: “I was giving bribes to the Turkish minister of the economy, and also giving to the head of Halkbank ... I didn’t feel a need to pay any other individuals.”

Halkbank issued a statement on Thursday denying any wrongdoing.

”It is out of the question, as alleged, that there was a systematic and conscious violation aimed at evading sanctions in transactions that are subject to sanctions, and the bank did not mediate in the exports of the banned parties and goods,” the bank’s statement said.

Nine people were originally indicted, although only Zarrab and Atilla are in the US. The others include a former Turkish minister, who was allegedly given tens of millions of dollars in bribes by Zarrab, and the former CEO of Halkbank.

Published by dpa International (November 30, 2017)