Warrant for hundreds issued in Turkey in money laundering sting

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish prosecutors have ordered the detention of 417 people suspected in a money laundering scheme to transfer millions of dollars worth of foreign currency to banks abroad, according to CNN Turk.

In a statement made in Istanbul, Turkey’s Chief Public Prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for the hundreds of suspects believed to have carried out over 28,000 transactions to foreign bank accounts “at the exchange rate of a total equivalent of 2.4 billion Lira ($419 million).”

The suspects in the investigation are wanted for “targeting the economic and financial security of the Turkish Republic,” and are accused of a number of crimes such as “establishing an organization to commit a crime,” violating “the law on money laundering prevention,” and “breaking a law aimed at preventing the financing of terrorism.”

According to public prosecutors, “the majority of the recipients of these transactions” were Iranian nationals residing in the US.

Turkey has witnessed a depreciation of its currency of up to 40 percent, seeing the lowest point - 7.24 to the dollar – these past few months of ongoing market volatility amid a trade war with the US.

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has repeatedly blamed the failure of the economy on foreign powers, namely the US and its sanctions. His Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, last week decried that “currencies should not be used as an instrument to attack other countries,” during a press conference with his Venezuelan counterpart.

Inflation in Turkey has soared to 18 percent, a 15-year high.

The Erdogan administration hopes to create liquidity in an 80-million-people-cash-strapped market due to a massive amount of debt owed to foreign countries and banks.

The US’ imposition of sanctions on two Turkish ministers for their role in the continued detention of Americans, including pastor Andrew Brunson, have added to the markets’ distrust of investing in Turkey or its currency.