US opens the ‘December 17th’

The allegations take place within the summary of proceedings of the four ex-ministers taking bribes became a current issue with the 17 of December corruption and bribery operation which was closed in Turkey, entered the Sarraf case file who is detained in the United States. The New York Southern District Attorney General Preet Bharara states that the authenticity of the documents are confirmed by the FBI. He also states that the English translation of December the 17th summary of proceedings in 400 pages which started off and closed up the December operations in Turkey, plus the images and tapes which take place within the summary of proceedings file has been uploaded electronically into the American Federal Justice System. By this way, December the 17th operation in which a publication ban was imposed and deterred in Turkey, is entered into the Sarraf case file as open to the general public. According to Can Kamiloglu's report from the US Voice, the focal point of the discussions in the trial process is that the Turkish police officially presented the summary of proceedings against Sarraf on the 17th of December 2013 as an evidence to the court. Lawyers object against the police summary of proceeding, which was prepared on the 17 of December in Turkey, to be used as an evidence to read the e-mails of Sarraf and to obtain permission from the court. Lawyers also lodged an application with the court to share the legal permission to examine Sarraf's emails with the Turkish Justice Ministry. The New York Southern District Federal Court Judge Richard Berman has rejected this desire of the advocate.
Judge R. Berman will give the final decision, while no negotiation is being made between the defence and the prosecution of what is to be used as an evidence in the trial process.

Refusal to Turkey

R. Berman, the judge of the on-going Sarraf case in New York, with a decision, invited the counsel for the prosecution to the court the previous day. Late night on November the 10th, a new petition penned by the Chief Prosecutor Preet Bharara is published through the Federal Justice System, under the seal of secrecy with the exception of a meeting held by judges Berman and the New York Southern District Attorney General's Office. On the testimonial the request of the Turkish Ministry of Justice to remove the confidential court document from 2014, which is the basis for the Sarraf investigation, in order to be shared with them, indicated as unacceptable. 

 Intervention charge

Preet Bharara, on his petition, has also accused the Turkish Ministry of Justice of interfering with how the American law would use a document. New York Southern District chief prosecutor claims  on his petition that Turkey has intervened without knowing how the American justice system works.

 ‘All is real’

Preet Bharara has stated that the authenticity of the summary of proceedings submitted to the court as an evidence in the signed petition was confirmed by FBI officials in Istanbul. The petition declared, "After the emergence of this summary of proceedings, the  investigators are arrested or changed places of duty. The FBI agents in Istanbul were confident about the accuracy of this summary of proceedings that we have submitted. 

The people who are in the prepared summary of proceedings are real people, telephone records and the photos are real. The abiding conviction of the independent investigation that US officials lead overlaps with the prepared summary of proceedings.”   

 The file had four ministers in the lead

Among the suspects of the 17 December investigation were the Interior Minister Muammer Güler, Minister of Economy Zafer Cağlayan, Minister of Environment and Urbanism Erdoğan Bayraktar and European Union Minister Egemen Bağış.

 ‘We did not feast' answer

Bharara, within the petition submitted to the court, reminded the declarations about Sarraf given by President Erdogan and Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ and said that Sarraf wanted to politicise the incident. Bharara also states that the case in the US is not related to the Turkish politicians, but includes Sarraf's accomplices. Bharara also reacted within the petition to the statement of President Erdoğan in which he says "the prosecutor Bharara and the judge Richard Berman have been fed in Turkey by FETO before” and he used the expression "Nobody from New York Southern District Prosecutor's Office has been fed in Turkey”.