Economy minister says his ‘conscience clear’ on rewarding key graft scandal figure

Graft scandal figure Reza Zarrab (2L) was given the “export champion” award during the TİM general assembly attended by President Erdoğan. (Photo: DHA)

June 22, 2015, Monday/ 13:12:49/ TODAYSZAMAN.COM / ISTANBUL

Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said on Monday that his conscience was not disturbed when he presented a business award to the Iranian-Turkish businessman who was briefly arrested as part of Turkey's largest ever corruption and bribery scandal, according to a report by the Hürriyet daily.

“The mentioned company had come first [in the rankings]. We didn't know until that moment. We don't know what would have happened if we had known beforehand... As the economy minister, my conscience was not disturbed,” Zeybekci was quoted as saying in his remarks to reporters in Parliament on Monday.

At the 22nd general assembly meeting of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), which was attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well as several Cabinet ministers, Reza Zarrab, the chairman of Volgam Gıda, was given the “export champion” award in the jewelry sector by Zeybekci and Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş.

Zeybekci stated that he did not meet Zarrab before the presentation of the award. “Some things need to be assessed carefully… It was the sector, not the government who decided on that list,” Zeybekci concluded.

Zarrab was the prime suspect in a corruption and bribery scandal involving the government that went public on Dec. 17, 2013. He was accused of being the ringleader of a money laundering and gold smuggling ring in Turkey that circumnavigated sanctions against Iran. The businessman was among 21 people -- including the sons of three former ministers, a district mayor and other high-profile figures -- who were arrested in simultaneous police raids that took place on Dec. 17, 2013.

In October 2014, İstanbul prosecutors dropped the charges against the suspects. In January this year, the parliamentary commission established to look into claims of corruption against four former Cabinet ministers voted against referring them to a top court for trial amidst allegations of the government placing heavy pressure on members of the commission who were from the ruling party.

In December 2014, Turkish authorities returned the money they had confiscated from the son of an ex-minister and Zarrab's aide as part of the investigations. Zarrab's employee, Abdullah Happani, was paid back TL 1 million, 800,000 euros, $60,000 and two kilograms of gold with interest. The amount of interest on the confiscated money was reportedly TL 55,000. The Hürriyet daily reported that Happani donated the interest to Red Crescent (Kızılay), Turkey's state-run charity.

Zarrab infamously claimed last year that he had closed 15 percent of Turkey's current account deficit (CAD) in 2013 by exporting 200 tons of gold valued at TL 25 billion. However, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan -- while responding to a written inquiry at Parliament -- said there was no information to corroborate Zarrab's claims.

Keywords: Nihat Zeybekci , Reza Zarrab , Numan Kurtulmuş , Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , corruption scandal