Turkey wants extradition of businessperson detained in Austria for fraud charges in US

Photo: Sezgin Baran Korkmaz / Twitter

Click to read the article in Turkish

Facing fraud and money laundering charges both in Turkey and the US, businessperson Sezgin Baran Korkmaz was detained in Austria late Saturday (June 19).

Citing his attorneys, BBC Turkish reported that he was detained at the request of the US.

After the detention, Turkey initiated the process for Korkmaz's extradition, the country's Ambassador to Austria, Ozan Ceyhun, told the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA).

Korkmaz has an arrest warrant against him in Turkey as part of a money laundering investigation into SBK Holding and six companies.

He was able to leave the country on December 5 and thus avoid an arrest, security camera footage from İstanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport revealed.

In the US, Korkmaz is charged with being involved in a fraud scheme to benefit from 511 million US dollars of tax cuts with forged documents on production and retail of renewable biofuel.

Some 134 million dollars of this money was sent to companies in Turkey with which Korkmaz has connections, according to the investigation. The other defendants in the case have confessed that they sent money to Turkey through companies controlled by Korkmaz.

The Utah Federal Court ordered the seizure of the mentioned companies and other assets belonging to Korkmaz, according to investigation documents obtained by BBC Turkish.

Korkmaz's attorney told BBC Turkish that their client runs asset management companies and did not have any knowledge of any wrongdoing. "He says, 'I'm an investor. Foreign investors come from abroad and I use it.' ... He says, 'I don't know if they obtained that money by committing a crime'," the attorneys said.

Sezgin Baran Korkmaz in Sedat Peker videos

Mob boss Sedat Peker, who has been releasing controversial videos on state-mafia relations in Turkey since early May, made allegations about Korkmaz in his video on June 6.

He claimed that Korkmaz 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 a luxurious hotel owned by Korkmaz.

Later, Korkmaz said Ateş had asked him for a bribe of 10 million Euro during the phone conversation, the recording of which was released on Twitter by journalist and MP Ahmet Şık yesterday.

Ateş claimed that the recording was created by combining parts from several conversations and denied that he 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 him 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. (AÖ/VK)