New York prosecutor withdraws appeal to extend sentence of Halkbank exec

The New York prosecutor's office has withdrawn an appeal to extend the sentence of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a former executive at Turkey's state-owned lender Halkbank.

A US court had sentenced Atilla to 32 months in prison in May over charges of helping Iran evade US sanctions in a case that strained already tense ties between NATO allies Ankara and Washington. US prosecutors had wanted him to put away for 20 years.

“The Government’s Notice of Appeal in the … cross-appeal, filed on June 25, 2018, is hereby dismissed with prejudice,” said a statement by US Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. A petition dismissed with prejudice means the decision is final and the same claims cannot be taken up again.

Atilla, currently serving out his sentence in a federal prison in the state of Pennsylvania, is set for release on July 25, 2019. He was arrested in the US in March 2017. 

The 47-year-old former deputy chief executive of Turkish lender Halkbank, was earlier convicted by a New York jury on January 3 on five counts of bank fraud and conspiracy. He was acquitted on one count of money laundering.

Halkbank, which denies any wrongdoing, has since faced potential US fines in relation to the case, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned as a political attack against his government.

The prosecutor's office had been asked by the court to present details of its appeal by December 6 but the appeal had later been withdrawn, according to an Anadolu Agency report.

No further details were immediately available and the New York prosecutor's office was not available for comment.

Last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said after talks with US officials in Washington that the two sides had discussed returning Atilla to Turkey where he can serve the rest of his sentence.

Erdogan also said last month that he had discussed the case of Halkbank with US President Donald Trump, saying the talks were on a "positive path". He said, without elaborating, that Trump had told him "he would instruct the relevant ministers immediately" regarding the case.

Strained ties between Ankara and Washington began to improve after US pastor Andrew Brunson, who was on trial over terror-related charges in Turkey, was released last month.

The NATO allies remain divided on a host of other issues, including US support for the PKK terror group's YPG branch in Syria and Turkey's request for the United States to extradite Fetullah Gulen, who orchestrated the deadly July 15, 2016 coup attempt that saw at least 250 people killed and wounded close to 2,000 people.