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The above undated picture has been presented as evidence in the trial of Hakan Atilla, a former executive of Turkey's state-owned Halkbank, on charges of evading the US sanctions against Iran.
In the picture, Reza Zarrab, a businessperson with dual citizenship of Turkey and Iran, poses with a pile of money in his İstanbul office. This picture has been published by the Courthouse News.
In a recent development about the case, Can Kamiloğlu from the Voice of America (VoA) has reported that Reza Zarrab applied to the US District Court Southern District of New York in 2018 and requested his release on bail pending trial; the judge accepted this application.
According to the documents that were issued by Richard Berman, the Judge of the District Court, on the electronic system on January 22, 2018, on July 17, 2018 and May 5, 2020 on the condition of confidentiality, Reza Zarrab was released from prison on bail in the US.
5-million-dollar letter of guarantee
In the last written order of Judge Richard Berman, it has been announced that the confidentiality order on the documents pertaining to the bail of Zarrab has been lifted. According to the documents, Reza Zarrab, in order to be released on bail, presented a 5-million-dollar letter of guarantee issued in exchange for 100 thousand US dollars to the district court.
The court has imposed some restrictions for the release on bail. Accordingly, the investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials can carry out a search in the residence where Zarrab reports as his dwelling without informing or getting a permission beforehand.
In Florida and New York without permission
Zarrab can also only have a phone call with the mobile phone provided by the prosecutor's office and he can only use the computer provided by the prosecutor's office. Zarrab can also move in the specified districts of Florida and New York without permission. If he is to travel to other places, he will be required to receive permission from the prosecutor's office.
About the Halkbank case in the US
Reza Zarrab, a businessperson with dual citizenship of Iran and Turkey, was detained at Miami Airport on March 19, 2016. He was arrested on March 21. He was charged with violating sanctions on Iran, money laundering, "conspiracy against the US," and defrauding US banks.
During Zarrab's trial, Turkey sent a diplomatic note to the US embassy, requesting information about the businessperson as it was not able to hear from Zarrab and was concerned about his life safety.
As part of the same investigation, Hakan Atilla, the then deputy general manager of Halkbank, was detained at New York JFK Airport on March 29, 2017. He was also remanded in custody shortly after.
The court combined the cases of Hakan Atilla and Reza Zarrab in April 2017. In his first hearing on April 27, Zarrab, facing up to 95 years of imprisonment, denied the accusations of conspiring to evade US sanctions against Iran, money laundering and bank fraud.
Facing a prison sentence of up to 90 years and a 50 million US dollars fine, Reza Zarrab became a confessor in October 2017. He admitted that he used Halkbank to trade gold for natural gas. After Zarrab's confession, Attila remained the sole defendant in the trial.
In September 2017, then Minister of Economy Zafer Çağlayan, former Halkbank General Director Süleyman Aslan, Halkbank Deputy General Director in Charge of International Operations Levent Balkan and Zarrab's worker Abdullah Happani were added as defendants.
On October 26, Reza Zarrab pleaded guilty and admitted that he had bribed the then Minister of Economy Zafer Çağlayan and explained the business traffic that he had followed to evade sanctions.
On January 3, 2018, jury members found Atilla guilty of five of six charges. He was sentenced to 32 months in prison on May 16, 2018. After completing his sentence, Attila returned to Turkey on July 24, 2019.
On October 15, 2019, US prosecutors charged Halkbank with six offenses: defrauding the US, conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In October 2019, he was appointed as the director-general of Borsa İstanbul stock exchange. He resigned on March 8, 2021. (PT/SD)
