A multinational investigation – Washington now breathing down Ankara’s neck

Aykut Küçükkaya
 
This remand order can be interpreted as being the USA’s most important message with reference to the 17-25 December investigation. We can attribute Ankara’s low-key reaction to the documents in the FBI’s hands. So, what does the detaining in New York of Halkbank’s Deputy CEO Mehmet Hakan Atilla augur? Businessman Zerrab is of Iranian origin.

However much Zerrab was the key figure of 17-25 December, his detention in the USA is considered to have much more to do with Iran-US relations. However, the FBI is now claiming that Zerrab broke through the US embargo with the intermediation of the Turkish bank Halkbank and cheated US institutions. The most noticeable aspect of the transcripts entering the file is of direct concern to the government. One interception record came in the aftermath of the operation in which one and half tonnes of gold, alleged to belong to Zerrab, were seized at the airport in Turkey in January 2013.
Both this transcript, and the other interception records reveal that Zerrab and the management of the public bank Halkbank went to great pains in Ankara to overcome difficulties in transferring gold. According to the FBI file, the key intermediary country between Turkey and Iran is the United Arab Emirates and its capital Dubai. When the names are listed of those involved, two names court attention: Camelia Jamshidy (Kamelia J...) and Hossein Najafzadeh. Jamshidy, who fled to Dubai three days after 17 December for fear that she would be detained, was the person who provided Zerrab with his connections to Iran for the transfer of both cash and gold.

As to Najafzadeh, he was the most important courier in cash transfers. These two figures were the most important couriers in the circuitous transfer of money and gold through Dubai. Allegations over the critical role assumed by Halkbank in these transfers find reflection in the FBI file. How much commission did the public bank Halkbank receive from these transfers made by Zerrab and his couriers? Did politicians by any chance receive a share of this commission?