In the wake of the Susurluk scandal, Turkish deputy Fikri Sağlar said that Turkish intelligence official Tarık Ümit, assassinated in 1995, had been a joint shareholder of the FMB with Kayzer Mahmood Butt, the private office manager of Saudi Prince Faisal.
[5] In 2004 the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) "found that reasonable grounds exist for concluding that First Merchant Bank is a financial institution of primary money laundering concern."
"[1] FinCEN noted that partners of FMB included "a former KGB employee identified as Vladimir Kobarel", and former Turkish intelligence official Tarık Ümit.
FinCEN pointed out links with the Turkish Susurluk scandal, noting that according to press reports, "First Merchant Bank, Tarik Umit, and [Bank President] Dr. Hakki Yaman Namli are alleged to have been involved with the laundering of $450 million in narcotics proceeds for the Susurluk gang.
"[1] The Northern Cyprus Ministry of Finance withdrew FMB's banking license in February 2007, and by April 2008 the bank's Ireland-registered major shareholder and its subsidiaries appeared defunct.