The mysterious Sezgin Baran Korkmaz at the center of a showdown between Washington and Ankara

The staging is typical of these videos of millionaires showing off their lifestyle on social networks: breathtaking view of the Swiss mountains, lake in the background;

on a table filled with exotic fruits, a man pretends to be working, pen in hand, behind his computer;

in the background, traditional music resonates ... The setting is perfect, but the situation is not very bright for the protagonist.

In this video, posted to Twitter on April 13, 2021, the businessman may still think he can escape justice.

https://twitter.com/cagdasulus/status/1381905567774572544

Sezgin Baran Korkmaz is then the subject of a judicial investigation in his country of origin, Turkey, which he fled at the beginning of December 2020. But it is at the request of the United States, which l 'accuse of having laundered more than 132 million euros, that the Turkish businessman was finally arrested on June 19 in Austria.

As part of the investigation carried out by the Istanbul Attorney General's office, 19 people who ran SBK Holding and its subsidiaries have already been arrested.

Eleven of the suspects were arrested in Istanbul by teams from the Directorate for the Fight against Financial Crime.

But eight had fled abroad, including Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, the founder of SBK Holding in Turkey.

A crook close to Turkish power

The affair immediately shook the Turkish politico-media sphere. A featured Habertürk presenter, Veyis Ates, has been accused of participating in an extortion attempt on Mr. Korkmaz. He allegedly promised the businessman to put an end to his legal troubles in Turkey. The journalist rejects these accusations, but still resigned.

More worrying, the powerful Turkish Minister of the Interior, Süleyman Soylu, is also implicated.

A columnist for the daily Cumhuriyet claims that the minister used a plane belonging to the businessman during a campaign,

"as if it were his private taxi during the election period".

The journalist also claims that

"Korkmaz flew many famous names, from journalists to bureaucrats, and this plane was on non-stop flights between Istanbul and Bodrum"

(a station of the Jet-set).

Read also: United States: Blinken says he hopes for an end to the crisis with Turkey but threatens sanctions

A fugitive Turkish mafia leader, Sedat Peker, also intervened in this affair, by multiplying the revelations on the relations between the underworld and the Turkish state, and the accusations of corruption against relatives of Erdogan.

He says government officials demanded a bribe from Korkmaz in exchange for dropping the investigation against him.

Peker also assures that the businessman visited Minister Soylu, at his office at the Interior Ministry, the day before his flight, and when an arrest warrant had just been issued against him.

Korkmaz himself confirmed this.

American-Turkish tensions

For their part, Utah prosecutors say Korkmaz conspired with two American businessmen, Jacob and Isaiah Kingston. Together, they are said to have laundered the proceeds of tax fraud based in particular on the purchase of the Turkish airline Borajet, hotels in Turkey and Switzerland, a yacht called Queen Anne, and a villa overlooking the Bosphorus waterway in Istanbul. The United States therefore also issued an international arrest warrant.

Since Korkmaz's arrest, the United States and Turkey have been fighting over his extradition.

In Austria, he was charged with

"one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, 10 counts of electronic fraud and one count of obstructing official proceedings

,

"

according to a statement from the Austrian court.

According to the indictment, Korkmaz laundered more than $ 133 million in fraud proceeds, through bank accounts he controlled in Turkey and Luxembourg.

Korkmaz explains that he would prefer to be tried in Turkey, where he is wanted "only" for fraud and money laundering.

Ankara has forwarded an official extradition request to Vienna, according to Turkish news agency DHA.

The Austrian court decided this Monday, July 5 to maintain Korkmaz's detention. According to information reported by DHA, Korkmaz requested his release during the hearing, but did not comment on the charges against him. The request was rejected on the grounds that there was a possibility for the businessman to

"escape, obscure the evidence and commit a crime".

The hearing was postponed to August 5, so that the court can consider Turkey's case within that time.

Until then, the Korkmaz affair will increase the litigation between the United States and Turkey a little more. The two countries are already clashing judicially over the Turkish bank Halkbank, accused of circumventing sanctions against Iran, and over the preacher Fethullah Gülen, the intimate enemy of Receip Erdogan, who lives in the United States.