Agreement on One-Month Deadline for Babak Zanjani to Pay Debt

Abdolghasem Salavati, the judge in Babak Zanjani's case, announced that he has agreed to grant Zanjani a one-month extension to pay his debts to the Iranian Ministry of Oil due to the submission of a 'bill of exchange' from Zanjani in 'a foreign country and bank' indicating 'payment and guarantee of payment' of the debt. A bill of exchange is a commercial document exchanged primarily among traders, instructing one party to pay a specified amount to another or to a third party. According to Fars News Agency, Rasoul Kouhpayehzadeh, Zanjani's lawyer, requested from the judge during the twenty-fourth session of the trial on Sunday, December 29, that a 'few months' opportunity be given for his client to pay his debts. He mentioned that they have taken actions that the court is aware of, but due to confidentiality, they cannot be disclosed to the media. Kouhpayehzadeh stated that with the lifting of Western sanctions against Iran, 'in the coming months,' it will be possible to transfer Zanjani's funds abroad. On Saturday, November 9, Zanjani also promised to provide a bank guarantee of '1 billion and 968 million euros' through a 'reputable' foreign bank within two days. However, according to officials from the National Iranian Oil Company, no guarantee has been provided by Zanjani so far. Zanjani and his lawyer had previously stated that until Western sanctions against Iran are lifted, it is impossible to deposit Zanjani's debt into the account of the National Iranian Oil Company. Ali Akbar Mahrokhzad, the legal affairs manager of the National Iranian Oil Company, described these statements as 'pretexting' and stated that the company is willing to accept its claim from Zanjani even into accounts that are sanctioned and 'blocked' to be transferred to Iran after the sanctions are lifted. Mahrokhzad has repeatedly accused Zanjani and his lawyers of making claims of payment to 'exploit publicity, waste time, and prolong litigation.' In his indictment, Zanjani is accused of receiving 'one million barrels of oil worth 300 million euros' from the Iranian oil company and having paid '160 million euros' out of the 2 billion and 700 million euros he was obligated to pay, spending the remainder on personal matters. Zanjani's lawyer announced that the deputy prosecutor of Tehran and the official responsible for transferring his client's assets to the Ministry of Oil have officially stated in a letter to the court that Zanjani's assets in Iran are worth about 2,600 billion tomans. However, Gholamhossein Sadeghi Ghahareh, the lawyer for the oil company 'HK,' affiliated with the Iranian Ministry of Oil, stated in the court session on Sunday that this amount 'is not acceptable to the oil company' and that experts have evaluated Zanjani's assets at 1,600 billion tomans, not 2,600 billion tomans. According to Sadeghi Ghahareh, in the 'expertise conducted,' which was referenced by Zanjani's lawyer, 'a check worth 40 billion tomans, whose owner is currently in prison and has no money, has been counted among the defendant's assets.' Babak Zanjani, who reportedly helped the government of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to bypass banking sanctions, was arrested on December 30, 2013, following a complaint from the Iranian Ministry of Oil. The Tehran prosecutor's office has accused Zanjani of corruption, disruption of the country's economic system, extensive fraud against the National Iranian Oil Company, fraud against the 'FIIIB' bank, forgery of banking documents and currency transfers, forgery of interbank transfer orders, money laundering amounting to 1,967 million euros, and spreading falsehoods.