Released from Prison in US, Hakan Atilla Arrives in Turkey

* Photograph: Anadolu Agency

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Sentenced to 32 months in prison for violating US sanctions against Iran, former Deputy General Manager of Halkbank Hakan Atilla was sent from the US to Turkey today (July 24) after serving 28 months in prison.

Being released from the FCI Schuylkill Prison in Pennsylvania on July 19, Atilla's formalities of deportation were started.

CLICK - Released from Prison, Hakan Atilla will be Deported to Turkey

After the related formalities were completed, Atilla was embarked on a plane at New York JFK Airport yesterday. His plane arrived in İstanbul Airport at around 11.30 a.m. today. Atilla was welcomed by his family members as well as Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak.

It has been reported that Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Cahit Turan was also at the airport to welcome Atilla. After the welcoming ceremony, Atilla, his family and Albayrak went to the VIP room.

But, what led to the imprisonment of Atilla, who has served four months less in prison for good conduct? What happened in his judicial process?

Arrest of Reza Zarrab

Businessperson Reza Zarrab was detained at Miami International Airport on March 19, 2016. He stood trial and was arrested on March 21.

Zarrab was charged with "violating the sanctions against Iran", "money laundering", "organizing a conspiracy for money laundering" "and "defrauding the US banks" between 2010 and 2015.

While it was anticipated that the investigation could also reach Turkey, the country sent a diplomatic note to the US, demanding information from the US authorities on the ground that Reza Zarrab could not be reached and there were concerns over his security of life.

Arrest of Hakan Atilla

Hakan Atilla was taken into custody as part of Reza Zarrab investigation at New York JFK airport on March 29, 2017. Charged with violating the US sanctions against Iran, Atilla was arrested.

In April 2017, the case files of Zarrab and Atilla were combined.

While Zarrab faced up to 90 years in prison and a judicial fine of 50 million dollars, on October 26, 2017, it was reported in the news that Zarrab accepted the accusations and collaborated with the prosecutor's office.

Zarrab became a confessor

Zarrab confessed that the bank he used for the natural gas trade against gold was Halkbank. After he became a confessor and entered into witness protection, Hakan Atilla remained as the sole defendant of the case. When the trial began at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Reza Zarrab was not a defendant, but a witness.

In the course of the hearing, attorneys of Atilla requested that his file be separated from that of Zarrab. However, their request was rejected.

When the trial started, Reza Zarrab said that he had never bribed Hakan Atilla, but bribed General Manager of Halkbank Süleyman Aslan. Regarding the latter allegation, Atilla stated that he had no information about it and added that he was not bribed by anyone.

Hakan Atilla found guilty

Put on trial at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Atilla was convicted of five of six charges pressed against him.

Accordingly, Hakan Atilla was sentenced to 32 months in prison and a judicial fine of 50 thousand US dollars. The period that he had already served in prison was reduced from his prison term.

What happened in the background?

Reza Zarrab was not a well-known figure in Turkey until the corruption and bribe investigation on December 17-25, 2013. Zarrab was arrested as part of the investigation on December 21, to be released shortly afterwards.

In that period, 89 people including the then Minister of Interior's son Barış Güler, the then Economy Minister's son Salih Kaan Çağlayan, the then Minister of Environment and Urbanization Abdullah Oğuz Bayraktar as well as businesspeople Ali Ağaoğlu and Reza Zarrab were detained.

It was alleged that Zarrab was violating sanctions by bribing public officials and managing Turkey's natural gas purchase from Iran against gold.

Zarrab was released from prison on February 28, 2014 and the charges brought against him were dropped on the ground that "the evidence was collected without due process of law.

During the operations, 1 million TRY, 800 thousand Euro and 60 thousand US dollars as well as two kilogram gold of Zarrab were confiscated. They were all returned to Zarrab with their interest.

The houses of people were also searched during the operations and 4 million 500 hundred dollars were found at the house of Halkbank General Manager of the time Süleyman Aslan. This money was also returned to Aslan.

The trial in the US later showed that the money in question was given by Reza Zarrab to Süleyman Aslan as a bribe. Accordingly, one of the main focal points in the US court was the December 17-25 operations. (HA/SD)