Turkish authorities have opened an investigation into the US prosecutors who brought charges against a Turkish gold trader facing trial in New York, state media said on Saturday, after Ankara said the case was based on fabricated documents.
The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office is investigating former US attorney Preet Bharara and acting US Attorney John Kim, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, following allegations that their case was based on documents Turkey says were fabricated.
When asked for comment, Bharara referred reporters to the Southern District of New York’s Attorney’s Office.
James Margolin, a spokesman for the Attorney’s Office, declined to comment.
Reporters was not immediately able to reach anyone at the Istanbul prosecutor’s office for comment.
The reported move comes after Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday said the US case was based on documents fabricated by followers of the cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for last year’s attempted coup.
Cavusoglu also accused Bharara of being “very close” to Gulen’s network.
Following the allegations, Bharara responded on Friday on Twitter, saying: “Turkey FM [foreign minister] is a liar. Now let’s see what happens in court.”
The case against the wealthy, Iran-born gold trader Reza Zarrab has complicated already strained relations between the US and Turkey, both members of NATO.
Zarrab, together with alleged co-conspirators, has been charged with handling hundreds of millions of US dollars for the Iranian government and Iranian entities from 2010 to 2015, in a scheme to avoid sanctions.
He has pleaded not guilty and is due to go on trial in New York on Monday next week.
Under a previous Turkish investigation that became public in 2013, Turkish prosecutors accused Zarrab and high-ranking Turkish officials of involvement in facilitating Iranian money transfers via gold smuggling, leaked documents at the time showed.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, then-prime minister, cast that investigation as a coup attempt orchestrated by his political enemies. Several prosecutors were removed from the case, police investigators were reassigned and the investigation was later dropped.
Erdogan, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has said US prosecutors have “ulterior motives” by including references to him and his wife in court papers relating to the trial in New York.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the