U.S. told Turkish government that Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, arrested in the United States, was moved to a different location, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday.
The minister said that Turkish government sent a second diplomatic note to Washington after not getting any response to the first one sent "3-4 days" ago.
Çavuşoğlu said U.S. authorities had not replied to a first diplomatic note from Turkey, but responded to a second note sent on Wednesday inquiring about Zarrab's condition after the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons website showed that Zarrab had been released last week and his lawyers said they had not heard from their client in five days.
"Seeing the news that said that Zarrab disappeared or his lawyers could not reach him, we asked [his wherabouts] to the U.S. officials. Since there was no answer, our colleagues asked once again to the U.S. Justice Department and were answered that he was in good condition in terms of both health and security," the minister said.
Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish tycoon, was arrested by U.S. authorities in Miami in March 2016 on charges of helping Iran process millions of dollars of transactions when it was under U.S. sanctions for its nuclear program.
ZARRAB - ERDOĞAN LINKS
The case threatens to reopen a case that reached right into Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s inner circle. It will also deepen existing tensions between Turkey and the United States. Zarrab was detained and charged in İstanbul in 2013 in a huge corruption case. All charges against Zarrab and those linked to Erdoğan's government were dropped.
U.S. prosecutors have alleged that Zarrab, a dual Turkish and Iranian citizen, sought support from and invoked the name of Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan to advance his business. Erdoğan has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Nine people have been criminally charged, but only Zarrab and a banker from Turkey's Halkbank, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, are in U.S. custody.
Neither Zarrab nor his lawyer attended a court hearing in Manhattan on Thursday to discuss the case ahead of the trial. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Monday next week and opening statements on November 27. In his absence, there are mounting press reports in the United States that Zarrab may now be cooperating with U.S. authorities in search of a plea bargain deal.
The mystery surrounding Zarrab only grew late last week when the Federal Bureau of Prisons website began listing him as having been released from a New York City federal lockup on Wednesday. Federal officials insist he's still in custody, but it is unclear in what form.
