Al-Monitor readers may recall the June controversy in Turkey over a pro-government business lobby awarding a “top exporter” prize to Iranian-born Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab. Since then, opposition media outlets in Turkey have intensified their coverage of the allegations against Zarrab, a suspect in the infamous December 2013 corruption probe. The rumors about Zarrab could have serious repercussions for Turkey and Iran.
Zarrab’s 15 minutes of shame continued with a story in the Hurriyet newspaper. Apparently, the chief inspector of Turkey’s Ministry of Customs and Trade conducted a thorough investigation of the famous merchant’s companies in 2014. The 651-page report, which the Hurriyet claims to have in its possession, reaffirms the details of Zarrab’s “gold export” business. Because Turkey lacks serious gold deposits, Zarrab’s firms imported gold bullions into the country only to export them to Iran as well as third parties such as Russia, United Arab Emirates and China. The scheme enabled Tehran to circumvent US-led international financial sanctions against its nuclear program, allowing it to import key items while exporting oil and natural gas. The Turkish report estimates Zarrab’s gold transactions to be worth $8 billion.
The report also discusses plots worthy of heist movies such as “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Italian Job.” Apparently, Zarrab’s companies imported, then exported, re-imported and then re-exported the same consignment of gold to cook the books and improve their credit rating. Another “suspicious” dimension of these operations was the fact that Volgam Gida Ltd. — the company that brought Zarrab his “top exporter” prize last month — isn't supposed to handle precious metals or jewelry because it is registered to trade in foodstuffs.
But the most interesting element in the customs ministry report is the claim that inspectors found direct links between Reza Zarrab and Babak Zanjani, a businessman currently held in prison in Iran for corruption and bribery charges. Zanjani allegedly never turned over $2 billion from oil sales he had conducted on behalf of the Iranian state during the sanctions period. Several officials from the administration of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are under investigation as Zanjani’s accomplices — a story that Al-Monitor’s Iran Pulse section has covered closely.
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