Corruption scandal in Turkey

Turkey's Halkbank has said it found several reports and comments which linked the lender with an ongoing investigation conducted in the U.S. against an Iranian-born Turkish businessman unfair, inappropriate and law-breaking in a written statement. 

The U.S. probe into Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-born Turkish businessman who was arrested in Miami on March 19 over Iran-related sanction charges, doesn't concern Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has said, while calling on U.S. officials to act against institutions linked to Fethullah Gülen.

There is a celebratory mood in anti-government circles in Turkey over the arrest in the U.S. of Reza Zarrab, the Turkish businessman of Iranian origin, who is reportedly also a citizen of Iran and Azerbaijan. He is charged with conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions and transferring hundreds of millions of dollars to the Iranian administration headed by then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The fifth penal chamber of Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals ruled on March 23 for an arrest warrant for a public prosecutor who conducted the major Dec. 17, 2013, graft probe and was later dismissed from the profession.

The arrest of Iranian-born Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab in the United States will also help reveal of facts about four former ministers who have been accused of being bribed by Zarrab, the main opposition leader has said. 

The arrest of Reza Zarrab cannot be linked to the Turkish state's Halkbank, Trade Minister Bülent Tüfenkçi said on March 22, adding that U.S. investigators had not demanded any information or documents regarding the issue.

An Iranian-born Turkish businessman has been arrested in Florida on charges that he and others conspired to conduct hundreds of millions of dollars in financial transactions for the Iranian government or other entities to evade U.S. sanctions. 

U.S.-based Turkish Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen, the alleged leader of a purported illegal organization, should come to Turkey to deliver testimony instead of giving a deposition before a U.S. court, the Turkish government has said.

Reza Zarrab?s road to export glory, recently recognized in a controversial award ceremony, was paved by a series of smart maneuvers designed to sidestep U.S.-led sanctions on Iran.  

Reza Zarrab?s road to export glory, recently recognized in a controversial award ceremony, was paved by a series of smart maneuvers designed to sidestep U.S.-led sanctions on Iran.