The U.S. Supreme Court is considering an appeal by Turkey’s Halkbank bank against accusations against it of violating sanctions imposed by Washington on Iran.
The bank is trying to convince the Supreme Court that, as a bank owned by the Turkish state, it enjoys immunity under the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
In 2019, a US court accused Halkbank of participating in a scheme to launder billions of dollars in proceeds from the sale of Iranian oil in violation of US sanctions.
According to court documents, the funds were used to purchase gold, and then the transactions associated with it were registered as the purchase of food and medicine in order to be subject to exemptions from sanctions on humanitarian grounds.
Halkbank is alleged to have transferred $20 billion to Iran through shell companies, including $1 billion through the US financial system, according to a US case.
And the US Department of Justice said it charged the bank with 6 counts of fraud, money laundering and sanctions circumvention, calling the case the most serious of sanctions violations.
Halkbank said the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which protects foreign leaders and governments from lawsuits in the United States, applies to state-owned companies.
After deliberations in various courts, the case went to the US Supreme Court for a decision.
It is noteworthy that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly denied accusations against the bank, saying that Turkey did not violate US sanctions and that political opponents were behind this case.
Many individuals have been convicted in the case, including the bank’s CEO, Muhammad Hakan Atallah, who spent a year in prison before being released in 2019 and returning to Turkey.
Source: AFP.