Istanbul court censors report Halkbank loaned $17 million to alleged organized crime leader

An Istanbul court on June 5 ordered the removal of all references to the newspaper's allegations. Birgun that Halkbank, a state-owned lender, provided a 550 million lira ($17 million) loan to a person accused of running a criminal organization. Ankara's heavy-handed use of the courts to censor the allegations demonstrates its sensitivity to accusations of corruption and links to the underworld since new Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya prioritized the fight against organized crime.

Halkbank's long history of violating US sanctions

In 2019, US federal prosecutors indicted Turkey's state-owned lender for helping Iran move restricted funds worth $20 billion, of which at least $1 billion was laundered through the US financial system. A year earlier, Halkbank Deputy CEO Mehmet Hakan Atilla was sentenced to 32 months in prison after a federal jury found him guilty of five counts related to the scheme, including circumventing sanctions, bank fraud and obstruction of the actions of the US Treasury. Department. Currently, Halkbank faces two pending lawsuits in the United States: the federal indictment and a separate civil suit brought by victims of the Iranian terrorist attacks. If the courts in these cases rule against Ankara, Halkbank and senior Turkish officials could expect significant fines, potentially in the billions of dollars. The fines could target high-profile figures, including bank executives and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Daily says Halkbank is linked to Turkish underworld

On June 5, 2024, BirgunIt is Timur Soykan, a respected investigative journalist, reported that Halkbank provided a 550 million lira loan to Ayhan Bora Kaplan between 2021 and 2022. The loan was identified in a 423-page report, following a investigation carried out by the government's Financial Crimes Investigation Agency (MASAK). in December 2023, on which Soykan's reporting is based. Within four hours, the 9th Peace Criminal Court of Istanbul ordered the censorship of the article from all media outlets. Ebubekir Sahin, the head of Turkey's government media watchdog RTUK, threatened media outlets with prosecution if any of their content suggested Halkbank was providing loans to criminals. Sahin added that such reports would unfairly tarnish “the excellent reputation of our public bank.” In addition to being the head of RTUK, Sahin also sits on the board of governors of Halkbank.

Kaplan was arrested in September 2023 by Turkish police and charged with murder, extortion, leading an organized criminal group and trafficking illegal drugs. Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of 169 1/2 years for Kaplan, who is currently in prison awaiting trial. Major Turkish media outlets have identified Kaplan's ties to former Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. Following the July 2016 coup attempt, Kaplan and his supporters reportedly took to the streets, brandishing weapons to protect Soylu from the coup plotters' attacks. Soylu's term as interior minister ended in June 2023, following Erdogan's re-election as president. Given that Turkish courts rely on censorship to protect Halkbank, the Biden administration and U.S. prosecutors should be alert to Turkish efforts to derail federal prosecutions of Halkbank.

Sinan Ciddi is a non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he contributes to FDD's work.Türkiye ProgramAndCenter on Economic and Financial Power(CEFP). For more analysis from Sinan, the Türkiye Program and CEFP, please subscribeHERE. Follow Sinan on@SinanCiddi. Follow FDD on @FDD And @FDD_CEFP. FDD is a nonpartisan research institute based in Washington, DC, focused on national security and foreign policy.