A senior official at a state-owned Turkish bank has been detained in the US on charges of helping Iran violate US sanctions against the country, the bank said on Wednesday.
"Our deputy general manager in charge of international banking, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, was taken into custody in the United States where he was for business purposes on March 28," Halkbank said. Halkbank, owned by the Turkish state, said it was working with the authorities and would provide more information when available. The state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Atilla was accused of two crimes by the chief prosecutor when he appeared in front of the judge in New York on Tuesday: conspiring to violate US sanctions against Iran and banking fraud. The agency said Atilla faced up to 50 years in prison that could cause tensions between Washington and Turkey ahead of US Secretary of State visit.