Key graft suspect taken to hospital for medical examination over cancer claims

ISTANBUL

Reza Zarrab has been charged with forming a ring that bribed officials to help disguise illegal gold sales to Iran via Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank.

The main suspect of the graft investigation that has gripped the country was taken to the hospital Feb. 18 to be medically examined over claims that he may be suffering from cancer.

Iranian-born Azeri businessman Reza Zarrab, who is still in custody along with the sons of two ex-ministers after the raids conducted on Dec. 17, 2013, had previously said he needed surgery after recently being diagnosed with a tumor. He then stressed that doctors told him he needed to undergo urgent chemotherapy treatment.

Zarrab returned to the prison facility after the medical examinations were conducted. According to his claims the tumor has developed on the glands above his kidneys. 

His celebrity wife, popular singer Ebru Gündeş was allowed to visit Zarrab in the hospital, the Turkish media also reported. Requests from Zarrab’s lawyers seeking his release were rejected by the court in December 2013.

Zarrab has been charged with forming a ring that bribed officials to help disguise illegal gold sales to Iran via Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank.

The government has refuted claims of wrongdoing, accusing the movement of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen of orchestrating the probes.