Turkey has begun rounding up associates of a gold trader who is giving evidence in New York of high-level corruption and a plot to avoid sanctions against Iran in a case that has roiled tensions between Washington and Ankara.
The state-run news agency Anadolu reported on Tuesday that Turkish police detained 17 associates of Reza Zarrab days after prosecutors moved to seize his assets.
It is the latest example of how the case has set Turkey on edge as evidence emerges of high-level corruption.
Zarrab is the star witness in the case against a Turkish banker accused of violating sanctions against Iran. In testimony delivered in Manhattan’s federal court he has already implicated the country’s president and a former minister in a complex web of financial transactions he says were used to release Iranian oil and gas money from Turkish banks.
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Turkey's president Erdogan approved the scheme to skirt around US sanctions on Iran, gold trader tells US court
Gold trader tells US court of scheme to launder Iranian oil money and circumvent US sanctions
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The Turkish government insists no laws were broken and that the case is politically motivated.
Zarrab, a wealthy Turkish-Iranian gold trader, has admitted his role and gave evidence for a fifth day on Tuesday as defence lawyers prepared to cast doubt on his claims during their cross-examination.
A day earlier it emerged that he had been caught on tape claiming that one way of finding leniency in the US was to admit to crimes you had not committed.
The revelation came in a public court filing by lawyers for the defendant Mehmet Hakan Atilla, which included a summary of a 2016 prison phone call during which Zarrab reportedly said there was a perceived need to lie “in America in order to make it out of prison”.
The details were part of a defence complaint that the prosecution was dragging its feet in handing over crucial evidence.
The letter continued: “Zarrab is proclaiming his willingness to fabricate testimony out of whole cloth in order to obtain a reduced sentence.”
It was contained in a public filing which was quickly deleted on Monday.
Zarrab’s credibility is a central part of the defence case.
Atilla, deputy general manager of the state-owned Halkbank, has denied any role in the plot.
So far Zarrab has testified to aiding Iran by disguising money transfers as payments for fake gold and food sales, routed through Dubai, which were designed to appear as if they complied with US Sanctions.
On Thursday, he said he believed Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who at the time was Turkish prime minister, signed off on a decision to bring two Turkish banks into the scheme.
Mr Erdogan, now president, has repeatedly demanded Zarrab’s release.
He returned to the theme on Tuesday saying the trial was being staged to “blackmail” and “blemish” his country.
He claimed it was a ploy to distract his country while Washington strengthens Syrian Kurdish groups that Turkey considers to be terrorists.
“Turkey has no plans against the United States, but it is clear that the US has plans against us,” he said.
Soon after he spoke it emerged that Turkish police had detained 17 people as part of an investigation related to Zarrab.
They included three of the gold trader’s employees on suspicion of delivering documents from the network of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen to US prosecutors, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Turkish authorities have accused Mr Gulen, who is based in the US, of plotting last year’s failed coup.
The conspiracy unveiled in a packed Manhattan courtroom has captivated the Turkish public. As well as the geo-political currents, alleged international financial subterfuge and links to the coup attempt, it features a wealthy, well-known witness whose marriage to a pop star made him a mainstay of the country’s gossip pages.
This week they reported that Zarrab asked an associated to consult fortune tellers about his decision to work with prosecutors, according to papers seized from his associates.
While deciding whether to co-operate, he also mulled whether he could return to Dubai, where he spent some of his youth and where he retains business interests.
“Ask the lawyer: ‘Can he settle in Dubai after he finishes his sentence if he co-operates with the prosecutors in the US? Can he arrange the residence permit if there is direct deportation to Dubai from the US?’” he wrote in a note, according to Hurriyet.
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
RESULTS
6.30pm: Longines Conquest Classic Dh150,000 Maiden 1,200m.
Winner: Halima Hatun, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ismail Mohammed (trainer).
7.05pm: Longines Gents La Grande Classique Dh155,000 Handicap 1,200m.
Winner: Moosir, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson.
7.40pm: Longines Equestrian Collection Dh150,000 Maiden 1,600m.
Winner: Mazeed, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
8.15pm: Longines Gents Master Collection Dh175,000 Handicap.
Winner: Thegreatcollection, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Longines Ladies Master Collection Dh225,000 Conditions 1,600m.
Winner: Cosmo Charlie, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
9.25pm: Longines Ladies La Grande Classique Dh155,000 Handicap 1,600m.
Winner: Secret Trade, Tadhg O’Shea, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
10pm: Longines Moon Phase Master Collection Dh170,000 Handicap 2,000m.
Winner:
RESULT
Kolkata Knight Riders 169-7 (20 ovs)
Rajasthan Royals 144-4 (20 ovs)
Kolkata win by 25 runs
Next match
Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kolkata Knight Riders, Friday, 5.30pm
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
England XI for second Test
Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Ben Stokes, Joe Root (c), Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, James Anderson
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Manchester United v Barcelona, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
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