Zarrab Hıred Mınıster's Son As Consultant For TL 30,000 A Month

New details of the testimony of Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who was detained in a corruption investigation that went public on Dec. 17 but subsequently released, have emerged after his 45-minute testimony on May 21 was delivered to the parliamentary Corruption Commission.

In his testimony to prosecutor Ekrem Aydıner on May 21, Zarrab says that he had received consulting services from Barış Güler, the son of former Interior Minister Muammer Güler, for six months and had paid him TL 30,000 a month in return.

“I had no relation with [former] Interior Minister Muammer Güler. I did not need him to obtain Turkish citizenship. But he may have accelerated the process. We were seeking a consultant at that time and I hired Barış, whom I met through his father, for this position for TL 30,000 a month,” Zarrab had said.

According to a phone recording between former minister Güler and Barış that was leaked on March 1, Güler is heard instructing his son to tell the police that he just works as an unofficial consultant for Zarrab if the police ask about their connection. He also asks his son how much money he has stashed in the house. Speaking in a rather panicky tone, Barış says, “Just a small amount, about TL 1 million or so."

“A person named Rüçhan Dayar who was working for me turned out to be Barış's relative. As far as I know, Rüçhan had TL 2.25 million in debts to Barış. Muammer Güler had called and asked me to help Rüçhan repay his debt to Barış but it was impossible for him as he received only a salary of $5,000 a month. That's why I sent him to China to maximize his profits, so he could repay his debt,” Zarrab had said.

Zarrab also defended former Halkbank General Manager Süleyman Aslan, from whose house $4.5 million stashed in shoeboxes was seized, saying Aslan had called him and asked for money for donations to the imam-hatip school which he graduated from. “Because the school was in bad shape, he asked for donations to the school. I first sent him TL 2.5 million and then TL 1.5 million from my personal accounts. That's why those amounts are not registered in the company's records. I do not know whether he donated this money,” Zarrab had noted.

Zarrab, the prime suspect in a high-profile investigation into allegations of bribery in public tenders and money laundering, is an Iranian businessman of Azerbaijani ethnicity who later became a Turkish citizen. He was first detained along with prominent officials and the sons of former ministers and was arrested in December as a major suspect in the Dec. 17 investigation.

However, prosecutor Celal Kara, who previously led the investigation, was removed from his post and reassigned by the Justice Ministry. His successor, Aydıner, ordered Zarrab's release but banned the businessman from leaving the country. That ban was lifted by the same prosecutor in May.

Zarrab files libel suit against CHP deputy

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu has said Zarrab has filed a libel suit against him on the grounds that Tanrıkulu had defamed him in parliamentary questions he had submitted about the businessman and the other corruption suspects.

Tanrıkulu issued a written statement on Thursday in which he stated that Zarrab had filed the libel suit against him because the CHP deputy had submitted a total of 14 parliamentary questions in which he mentioned some allegations against the Iranian businessman.

Tanrıkulu said Zarrab's lawyer demanded TL 70,000 in compensation for the 14 questions he submitted in Parliament, adding, “It seems that Zarrab and those who are 'zeroing the millions at home' are working busily to close the current account deficit through libel suits.”

Tanrıkulu was referring to a leaked telephone conversation that allegedly took place between current President and former Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his son Bilal on Dec. 17, in which Erdoğan allegedly briefed his son Bilal about the graft raids and asked him to “zero” the money stashed in the houses of several people.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)