A Turkish-Iranian gold trader on Thursday told jurors in a New York federal court that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan authorized a transaction in a scheme to help Iran evade US sanctions. Reza Zarrab is cooperating with US prosecutors in the criminal trial of a Turkish bank executive accused of helping to launder money for Iran. At the time of the alleged conspiracy, Erdogan was Turkey’s prime minister. Zarrab has said that Atilla helped design the gold transactions, along with Halkbank’s former general manager, Suleyman Aslan. Zarrab has testified that in the course of his scheme, he bribed Aslan and former Turkish economy minister Zafer Caglayan.

Source: Hindustan Times December 01, 2017 09:33 UTC