Türkiye’s state lender Halkbank requested the U.S. Supreme Court to overview a decrease court docket ruling saying it may be prosecuted for allegedly serving to Iran evade American sanctions, a U.S.-based lawyer for the financial institution mentioned on Monday.
The Supreme Court had given Halkbank till Monday to file a petition interesting the Oct. 22, 2024, resolution by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan permitting the prosecution.
In a letter to the appeals court docket, Halkbank’s lawyer Robert Cary mentioned the financial institution has filed the petition. The petition was not out there on the Supreme Court’s web site. Cary didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.
Halkbank pleaded not responsible to fraud, cash laundering and conspiracy fees over its alleged use of cash servicers and entrance corporations in Iran, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to evade sanctions.
Brought in 2019, the case has been a thorn in U.S.-Türkiye relations, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calling it an “unlawful, ugly” step.
The nations’ ties have seen ups and downs within the final decade, amid disagreements on Syria, the place the U.S. backed PKK/YPG terrorists, Türkiye’s buy of the S-400 missile system from Russia and different issues.
But on Monday, Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump every mentioned they’d a really “productive” cellphone name earlier within the day, and had invited one another to their respective nations.
Halkbank’s case is making a second journey to the Supreme Court.
In 2023, that court docket mentioned Congress’ need to defend overseas nations and their instrumentalities from civil legal responsibility beneath the federal Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 didn’t cowl felony circumstances.
But in a 7-2 resolution, it mentioned the 2nd Circuit ought to extra absolutely overview whether or not widespread legislation immunity shielded Halkbank, resulting in final October’s ruling.
Source: www.dailysabah.com