Turkey moves to extradite businessman Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, after arrest in Austria
The Turkish Embassy in Austria on Sunday announced that a process had begun to extradite Turkish businessman Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, hours after his detention by Ausrian authorities.
'As of June 19th, we have begun the process for his
(Korkmaz’s) extradition upon the orders we have received from the (foreign)
ministry,’’ Cumhuriyet newspaper cited Turkish Ambassador to Vienna Ozan Ceyhun
as saying.
Korkmaz, a Turkish businessman involved in a money
laundering scheme in the United States and accused of involvement in
large-scale corruption in Turkey, was taken into custody by Austrian
authorities upon the United States’ request, BBC Turkish reported on Sunday.
Korkmaz was detained over a new investigation launched in
the United States for remaining silent despite having knowledge of laundering
of crime-related money, his lawyers told BBC Turkish.
The businessman's partners in the United States, the
Kingston Brothers admitted of fraudulently claiming subsidies of more than $500
million from the U.S. government, some $130 million of which was allegedly sent
to Turkey for laundering.
Turkish authorities have sought Korkmaz’s arrest since
December over the involvement of his SBK Holding in the decade-long scheme by
Jacob and Isaiah Kingston, dubbed Mormon Crime Brothers in Utah. Ahval has
covered the case in detail since 2018.
“I am an investor. Foreign investors come from abroad and I
put their money to work here,” BBC Turkish cited Korkmaz as saying in a
previous statement as the businessman rejected allegations. Korkmaz said he
wouldn’t know if the money came from illicit activities.
Korkmaz returned to the Turkish news cycle when infamous
mafia boss Sedat Peker, in one of his nine hour-long tell-all videos laying out
allegations of corruption and criminal activity among government circles,
accused Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu of tipping the businessman off before
the December raids seeking his arrest.
Peker also said Paramount Hotel, the luxury vacation spot
located in the touristic town Bodrum in southwestern Turkey that Korkmaz owns,
has hosted many high-level government officials, including judges, prosecutors
and police chiefs. According to the mobster, several pro-government journalists
also frequented the premises.
Pro-government journalist Veyis Ateş was accused of having
demanded 10 million euros from Korkmaz to help him avoid prosecution, allegedly
acting in the name of Soylu. Ateş denies ever having asked for such a bribe,
while Korkmaz says he has a voice recording to prove it. Several journalists
and Peker himself say they have listened to part of the recording in question.
On Sunday morning, opposition deputy and investigative
journalist Ahmet Şık shared a voice recording on YouTube, saying it was the
recording in question. In the muffled audio, two men are heard discussing how
to mediate the situation, consistent with what journalists Sevilay Yılman,
Fatih Altaylı and İsmail Saymaz have written about last week.
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