run afoul of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
(Halkbank image via Courthouse News)
MANHATTAN (CN) The Second Circuit appeared unlikely Monday to rule that Turkey’s state-run Halkbank is immune from claims over the same crimes that brought indictments against its executives.
“Since the bank is synonymous with government of Turkey, in your view, I assume the officers of the bank would be, in effect, state officials; Are they state officials?,” U.S. Circuit Judge Jose Cabranes asked an attorney for the bank this afternoon as the Manhattan-based court held remote oral arguments.
“Several of these managers or executives of the bank been indicted,” the Clinton-appointed judge noted. “Has anybody asserted a claim of diplomatic immunity or any sort of immunity that’s ascribable to the government?”
Last Updated On: Apr 13 2021 01:35 Gmt+3
Turkey’s state-run Halkbank, facing charges of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, argued in a federal court in New York that it was immune from prosecution, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Halkbank’s lawyer Simon Latcovich said that the bank was “synonymous” with Turkey and therefore fell under the protections offered in the federal Foreign Sovereign Immunities act, Reuters said.
While Latkovich argued that sovereigns were “immune even in criminal cases”, U.S. prosecutor Sidhardha Kamaraju said that the law only applied to civil cases, according to Reuters.
Halkbank is accused of bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy over its involvement in a plot to trade gold for Iranian oil and natural gas, helping Tehran evade U.S. sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme. It has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Published date: 13 April 2021 21:22 UTC | Last update: 4 days 6 hours ago
A lawyer for Halkbank has told a US appeals court that an indictment accusing the state-owned Turkish lender of helping Iran evade sanctions should be thrown out because the bank is immune from prosecution.
In oral arguments presented before the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, Halkbank s lawyer Simon Latcovich said the US government had no basis to assert criminal jurisdiction and that the bank was synonymous with the Turkish state for purposes of immunity.
Latcovich asserted the bank has claims to immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), which establishes limitations as to whether a foreign country can be charged in a US court.
Turkey s Halkbank urges end of U S prosecution alleging Iran sanctions violations reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.