Court rejects Reza Zarrab’s compensation demand from CHP leader

ISTANBUL

An Istanbul court has rejected a complaint claiming “mental distress,” filed by the shady Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab against the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Zarrab had demanded that Kılıçdaroğlu pay him a total of 300,000 Turkish Liras in compensation for statements made by the CHP head regarding the December 2013 corruption probes.

Zarrab was the prime suspect in a corruption and bribery scandal embroiling the Turkish government that went public on Dec. 17, 2013. He is accused of being the ringleader of a money laundering and gold smuggling ring in Turkey that circumvented sanctions against Iran.

The lawyers of Kılıçdaroğlu and Zarrab participated in a hearing on Sept. 5 in which Zarrab’s lawyer, Ayten Yılmaz, said Kılıçdaroğlu’s words describing Zarrab as a “bribe-taker and a thief” harmed the personal rights of her client.

However, the court rejected Zarrab’s case, saying the CHP head’s “act was not one that would require compensation for mental distress.”