The two-page investigation report sent to the U.S. judicial authorities by Turkish prosecutors referred to the sworn testimony of Mehmet Hakan Atilla presented in the court hearing by his attorney Cathy Fleming on October 30. Atilla was the senior manager of Turkey's Halkbank before he was imprisoned in the US for violating Us sanctions on Iran together with Reza Zarrab.
Turkish prosecutors argued in their report that the "contents of this sworn testimony document included 3 thousand private communication reports of Turkish citizens and some trade secrets pertaining to private law". They also emphasised the statement given by Atilla's attorney Cathy Fleming which pointed out that the documents and evidence presented in the case file are of illegal and fabricated origin.
Turkish prosecutors noted that the documents presented by Fleming were not obtained from Turkey through official channels, and demanded an explanation regarding how and from whom they had been obtained and the immediate share of these documents for further investigation. They also demanded a judicial cooperation with the US authorities to determine whether the former US attorney Preet Bharara and acting US attorney Joon Hç Kim had committed the alleged crimes.
Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation Saturday of two United States prosecutors involved in putting a Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab on trial for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Nine people have been criminally charged, but only Zarrab and a banker from Turkey's Halkbank, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, are in U.S. custody. They are to go on trial in December, a case some commentators see as potentially damaging for Ankara.
The İstanbul prosecutor's office said it was investigating Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Bharara's successor, Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim. İstanbul prosecutors have opened an investigation against both Bharara and Kim on the grounds that their actions "are clearly against the international and domestic law". It said that the evidence being used in the case against the "Turkish citizens" is "stolen, of fraudulent nature and unidentifiable in origin."
