The US has arrested a senior official at a state-owned Turkish bank on charges of helping Iran violate US sanctions, a move that could fuel tension ahead of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit on Thursday.
Halkbank’s Mehmet Hakan Atilla is accused of helping to process millions of dollars of illegal transactions through US banks for the Iranian government and other Iranian institutions, the state-run Anadolu news agency says.
Reza Zarrab, the Turkish-Iranian gold trader accused of violating US sanctions on Iran, seen at an Istanbul police station in 2013. (screen capture: YouTube)
“Our deputy general manager in charge of international banking, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, was taken into custody in the United States where he was for business purposes on March 28,” the bank confirms, adding that it was working with the authorities.
Atilla is accused of working with Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish businessman, and others to let the Iranian government and other Iranian institutions get around US sanctions.
— AFP
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