Austria to extradite fraud suspect to US instead of Turkey
Facing charges in both Turkey and the US, businessperson Sezgin Baran Korkmaz will be exradited to the latter, judicial authorities in Austria have decided.
A prosecutor in Wels, the city where Korkmaz is under arrest, told Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) that he will be sent to Vienna, from where he will fly to the US.
Korkmaz was detained in Austria in June 2021. The country's Ministry of Justice on June 15 decided that priority should be given to the US as the charged crimes were first committed in this country.
According to the indictment in the US, Korkmaz was part of a network that defrauded the US Treasury of some 470 million dollars, and 133 million dollars of this money was laundered in Turkey. Korkmaz is facing up to 225 years in prison.
Had he been tried in Turkey, where he is investigated for money laundering, he would have the chance to get away with no prison time at all.
Korkmaz had left Turkey for Austria just one day before an arrest warrant was issued against him. Sedat Peker, an exiled mob boss who has been making allegations against government circles, claimed that it was Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu who had tipped Korkmaz off about the warrant.
Korkmaz and bribery allegationsMob boss Sedat Peker, who released a series of controversial videos on state-mafia relations in Turkey in May and June 2021, made allegations against Sezgin Baran Korkmaz in a video on June 6. He claimed that Korkmaz, the owner of the SBK Holding, visited Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu at his office one day before he departed from Turkey, despite having an arrest warrant against him. He also talked about a recording of a phone call between journalist Veyis Ateş and Korkmaz and questioned how Ateş was able to afford to stay at Korkmaz's luxurious Paramount Hotel in Muğla. Later, Korkmaz said Ateş had asked him for a bribe of 10 million Euro during the phone conversation in question. MP Ahmet Şık released the recording of the conversation on June 21, 2021. Ateş dismissed the recording, claiming that the recording was created by combining parts from several conversations. He denied that he had requested money from Korkmaz. In the recording, a person who is believed to be Ateş says, "a lobby, a clique" was responsible for the investigation against Korkmaz, but he can get away with that if he proves his "sincerity." When Korkmaz asks what the proof is, he replies, "10 million Euro." It's not clear on whose behalf Ateş was negotiating with Korkmaz. |
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