Erdogan implicated in Iran sanction-busting trial

A GOLD trader told a New York court yesterday that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, personally authorised a transaction in a scheme to help Iran evade US sanctions.

Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-iranian, is co-operating with US prosecutors in the criminal trial of a Turkish bank executive accused of helping to launder money for Iran.

The case centres around gold trades and fake purchases of food between 2010 and 2015 designed to give Iran access to international markets.

At the time of the alleged conspiracy, Mr Erdoğan was Turkey’s prime minister. Earlier Mr Erdoğan said that Turkey did not violate US sanctions and “did the right thing” in dealing with Iran, CNN Turk reported.

The testimony came on the third day of the trial of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive at Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank , who has pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court.