US prosecutors seek 188-month jail term for Halkbank deputy general manager

U.S. prosecutors are seeking 188 months of jail time for Hakan Atilla, the deputy general manager of state-owned Halkbank.

As a response to Atilla's team of lawyers, who previously sent a letter to the U.S. judge presiding over the case calling for a maximum sentence of five years in prison, the U.S. prosecutors urged in a 68-pages petition for a jail term of at least 15 years and a fine between 50,000 and 500,000 dollars for the Turkish banker.

Underlining that the foreseen sentence was equal to 105 years, the prosecutors strongly rejected the request of Atilla's lawyers.

Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın said Thursday that Turkey strongly condemned the requested jail term for Atilla, calling the US trial unjust.

Last week, the lawyers representing Atilla called for the U.S. judge to settle on "a just and compassionate" sentence for the banking executive who was found guilty on five of six counts, including violating U.S. sanctions on Iran, crimes to deceive the U.S. and defrauding U.S. banks.

They argued that the case was exceptional and that many international banks that had violated sanctions imposed on Iran had escaped with a fine while none of their employees were charged with any crimes.

The lawyers said the trial had shown that Atilla was a simple state servant who was victimized by Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who masterminded the scheme but turned state's evidence against Atilla for a lighter sentence, having earlier accepted all the charges against him.

Zarrab was arrested on March 16, 2016 before turning state's evidence on Oct. 26, 2017 and testifying against Atilla, who was arrested in March last year while on a business trip in the U.S.