ROME -- Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan's son Bilal is being investigated for money laundering in Italy after a formal denunciation was filed to the Italian authorities by Turkish dissident Murat Hakan Huzan, a strong opposer of Erdogan's autocratic government and now in exile in France, La Repubblica reported. Bilal has denied the accusations.

 The laundering case was opened last September in Bologna by Turkish tycoon Huzan, who asked magistrates to investigate large sums of money brought into Italy by Bilal. Sources from groups that oppose Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) government have accused Bilal's transfer to Italy as a ploy to make "vast sums of money" disappear under the guises of a presumed "escape plan."

 Bilal Erdogan, 35, is studying for a doctorate program in international relations at John Hopkins University in Bologna, where his lives with his wife and children. His arrival in September last year, after suspending his doctorate some years ago "due to health problems", was greeted with polemic after he came under criticism for transferring to Italy in order to escape an unstable period in Turkey during the run up to elections last year of which the results were uncertain.

 He has denied fleeing to Bologna, declaring that "Only cowards escape. I am in Italy for my doctorate. When I finish I will return to my country where I will live until my last breath." The lawyer representing him acknowledged that a criminal investigation involving his client had been opened regarding the recent allegations, but told The Independent that he was not prepared to comment.

 Once an owner of numerous businesses operating in energy, construction, telecommunication and publishing sectors, Huzan claims he himself was victim of a political and judicial illegality by Erdogan and his son after the businesses were confiscated from him following his joining of the Turkish political opposition.

 Huzan has also expressed criticism of Bilal's arrival in Bologna flanked by a large contingent of armed body guards who, after being denied entry into the country by Italian authorities, were all issued with Turkish diplomatic passports a few hours later. Upon arrival at the university Bilal was greeted by protests and slogans of the likes of 'Erdogan is a terrorist'.

 In 2013 Turkey's AKP Islamist government was rocked by a large-scale corruption scandal that implicated both Bilal and his father as well as several other senior government figures, allegedly involved in a money laundering scheme aimed at bypassing U.S. sanctions on Iran. They were accused of bribery, corruption, fraud and gold smuggling.

 One of four children of President Erdogan, Bilal has shipping and maritime assets and controls several oil tankers through his company and partnerships in other firms. Both Bilal and his father have come under previous accusation from Russia for profiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State territory in Syria and Iraq, Reutersreported.

 Russian media reports alleged that Turkey was directly involved in the oil trade with Islamic State, and that Turkey's shooting down of a Russian warplane entering its airspace in November 2015 was an attempt to protect this oil smuggling business.

ft