US Solicitor Basic Elizabeth Prelogar has replied to Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank’s arguments to keep away from legal fees in a case that has strained US relations with NATO ally Turkey, saying the financial institution has no declare of immunity from prosecution underneath the regulation, the Voice of America’s (VOA) Turkish Service reported on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors in New York in 2019 introduced fees towards Halkbank, accusing it of cash laundering, financial institution fraud and conspiracy for allegedly serving to Iran evade financial sanctions. They declare the financial institution participated in a scheme to launder about $20 billion of Iranian oil and pure gasoline proceeds in violation of US sanctions towards Iran.
Halkbank beforehand appealed a decrease court docket’s choice rejecting the financial institution’s rivalry that it was immune from US prosecution underneath a 1976 regulation referred to as the International Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), which limits the jurisdiction of American courts over lawsuits towards international nations as a result of the enterprise is majority-owned by the Turkish authorities.
In line with VOA, Prelogar mentioned in a 62-page petition submitted to the US Supreme Court docket that Halkbank had no declare of immunity underneath the FSIA and that there was no authorized impediment for the financial institution to be prosecuted within the US.
“The Supreme Court docket ought to reject Halkbank’s enchantment and render a call towards the financial institution,” Prelogar was quoted as saying.
The solicitor basic additional acknowledged that Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold dealer who US prosecutors mentioned had shut ties to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, pleaded responsible and testified within the trial of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a Halkbank government who was arrested in 2017 and subsequently convicted.
The fees towards Halkbank stemmed from an investigation that first grew to become public with the 2016 arrest of Zarrab. Atilla was convicted of serving to evade US sanctions and sentenced to 32 months in jail.
Halkbank’s first enchantment listening to on the US Supreme Court docket will probably be held on Jan. 17, VOA mentioned.
The financial institution beforehand pleaded not responsible to fees of financial institution fraud, cash laundering and conspiracy over allegations that it used cash servicers and entrance corporations in Turkey, Iran and the United Arab Emirates to evade sanctions.
Erdoğan referred to as the US authorities’s choice to cost the financial institution an “ugly, illegal” step and has pushed for the case to be dropped.
Favored it? Take a second to assist Turkish Minute on Patreon!
