science

Reza Zarrab

Reza Zarrab is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Reza Zarrab rather than just read about it. In short: Reza Zarrab (Persian: رضا ضراب, Turkish: Rıza Sarraf; born 12 September 1983) is an Iranian-born businessman based in Turkey. He has Iranian, Azerbaijani, Turkish and Macedonian citizenship.

Key takeaways

Reza Zarrab belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Reza Zarrab to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Reza Zarrab from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Reza Zarrab (Persian: رضا ضراب, Turkish: Rıza Sarraf; born 12 September 1983) is an Iranian-born businessman based in Turkey. He has Iranian, Azerbaijani, Turkish and Macedonian citizenship. In March 2016, he was arrested in the United States, accused of being a member of an international criminal organization. He was charged with evading US economic sanctions on Iran and money laundering in an alleged racket scheme to help Iran bypass the sanctions, involving ministers of the Turkish government of then prime minister and now president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. His father, Hossein Zarrab, had a close relationship with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was the President of Iran from 2005 to 2013. The US Department of Treasury accused Hossein Zarrab of violating US sanctions on Iran, and fined him $9.1 million, reduced to $2.3 million following his cooperation with US officials. His charges; conspiracy to defraud, violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, money laundering, and bank fraud; could bring up to 70 years in prison if found guilty in the US Federal Court.

Early life and education Reza Zarrab was born in Tabriz, Iran, to Iranian Azerbaijani parents, and grew up in Azerbaijan and Turkey. Reza Zarrab became a dual citizen of Turkey and Azerbaijan after settling in Istanbul. Zarrab's parents remained in Baku through 2010–11; in 2013 they were granted Turkish citizenship reportedly through facilitation of then Interior Minister Muammer Güler. On 1 June 2007 Zarrab received an "exceptional citizenship" and became a Turkish citizen with the decision given by the Turkish Council of Ministers. He was accused of bribing $1.5 million to receive Turkish Citizenship in the indictment. In 2008, Zarrab married Turkish pop star, Ebru Gündeş and they had a child in 2011. He started his business life in Turkey in 2008 with the company named Royal Maritime A.S. He founded Royal Holding with his brother Mohammed Zarrab (Can Sarraf) in 2010.

Career

Before the 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey, there were already signs of Zarrab engaging in bribing Turkish officials. For instance, Zarrab's chauffeur, Turgut Happani, was arrested by the Turkish Customs Protection agency during his trip to Russia from Turkey in 2011 for carrying $150 million in cash and was accused of conducting illegal money couriering, but he was then released by Turkish authorities. Happani sped his own pictures on Facebook with suitcases full of money. Moreover, in 2007, he was given Turkish citizenship for a sum of $1.5 million. In April 2013, the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) urged then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about Zarrab's corrupted relations with the Turkish cabinet members. on 17 December 2013. Zarrab, who has a business affiliation with the Iranian billionaire and business magnate Babak Zanjani, was detained in Istanbul due to his involvement with the sons of three ministers (Erdoğan Bayraktar, Muammer Güler and Zafer Çağlayan) in the Turkish government and Egemen Bağış, the former minister for EU Affairs and Turkey's chief negotiator in accession talks with the European Union, in an alleged bribery, corruption and smuggling racket. The court ordered his arrest on 21 December along with Barış Güler, son of Muammer Güler, and Kaan Çağlayan, son of Zafer Çağlayan. He was released on 28 February 2014. The investigation in Turkey revealed a system to help Iran bypass US sanctions against the country concerning the SWIFT payment system, in a scheme based on Turkish public bank Halkbank, whereby money was transferred to front companies in China and Turkey, and gold bought with that money transferred to Iran via Dubai. Then Interior Minister Muammer Güler's son, Barış Güler, then Economy Minister Zafer Çaglayan's son, Kaan Çaglayan, and General Director of Halk Bank, Suleyman Arslan, were among the suspects including Reza Zarrab. They were arrested due to accusations of "bribery, professional misconduct, bid rigging, and smuggling". Erdogan backlashed and announced the investigation as a "judicial coup" against his government, and dismissed the prosecutors and police officials investigating the corruption scheme. After a 70-day detainment, Zarrab and the sons of cabinet members were released from jail. Erdogan received harsh criticism for obstructing and undermining justice and putting the judiciary under his executive authority. However, Erdogan announced that "justice has been served". Egemen Bağış, then Minister of European Union Affairs, was dismissed after the corruption investigation. The Ministers of Interior Affairs, Economic Relations, and Environment and Urbanization – Muammer Güler, Zafer Çaglayan, and Erdoğan Bayraktar, respectively – had to resign from their positions. The indictment charged high-ranked officials with significant accusations for receiving bribes: Zafer Caglayan received $52 million worth of bribes; Muammer Guler received $10 million worth of bribes; and Egemen Bağış received $1.5 million worth of bribes. The summary of proceedings were sent to the Turkish parliament for the vote on whether to lift ministers' immunity and send them to court. However, given the strong majority of Erdoğan's ruling party (AKP), in January 2015 the parliament did not lift their immunity and swept away the significant investigation. In May 2014, Erdoğan announced that he initiated a "witch-hunt" against the Gülen movement for, as he alleged, being behind the corruption investigation. Two months after this announcement, the government arrested and detained police officials who conducted the corruption investigation. The prosecutors of the corruption investigation were also dismissed from their positions. In June 2015, Zarrab received the Turkish Export Award jointly from the hands of Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekçi, and President of the Turkish Exporters Council Mehmet Büyükekşi, in a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. While Erdoğan alleged that Zarrab conducted trade and business in aligned with Turkish interests, there have been several reports that suggest Zarrab's illegal activities extensively harmed the Turkish economy.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Reza Zarrab

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Reza Zarrab claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Reza Zarrab before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Reza Zarrab ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Reza Zarrab

In research: Reza Zarrab appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Reza Zarrab in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Reza Zarrab is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1983 births, 21st-century Iranian businesspeople, Gold investments, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Reza Zarrab outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Reza Zarrab in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Reza Zarrab means in your own words.
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Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Reza Zarrab in simple terms?

Reza Zarrab (Persian: رضا ضراب, Turkish: Rıza Sarraf; born 12 September 1983) is an Iranian-born businessman based in Turkey. He has Iranian, Azerbaijani, Turkish and Macedonian citizenship.

Why does Reza Zarrab matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Reza Zarrab?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Reza Zarrab.