US appeals court puts Halkbank trial on hold
* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
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The court of appeals in the US has ruled that the court case filed by the federal government against Turkey's state-owned Halkbank shall be put on hold while the bank appeals to the US Supreme Court.
As reported by BBC Türkçe in reference to Reuters news agency, this recent order of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan has allowed Turkey's state-owned Halkbank to appeal without having to defend against the criminal case at the same time.
In a decision on October 22, 2021, the 2nd Circuit concluded that Halkbank could be prosecuted because its alleged misconduct involved commercial activity that was not covered by sovereign immunity.
The US Department of Justice, on the other hand, opposed a delay, indicating that Halkbank's "meritless" claims neither raised "substantial" questions nor overcame the public interest in a speedy trial.
No opinions have been expressed as to the merit of the decision.
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. (AÖ/SD)