Ahmad Tavakoli: 170 Judges Dismissed Due to Economic Corruption

Ahmad Tavakoli, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, emphasized that "corruption has become widespread, networked, and systematic," announcing that during the presidency of Sadegh Larijani over the judiciary, 170 judges were dismissed due to economic corruption. According to a report on Tuesday, May 2, Tavakoli stated in a television program that "corruption has become widespread, networked, and systematic," and that the agencies responsible for combating corruption have also become "contaminated to some extent by corruption." He described the dismissal of this number of judges as indicative of the judiciary's "entanglement" with corruption. Previously, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, had reported the "disqualification of several judges" due to economic corruption. For instance, on Tuesday, May 18, 2014, he announced that the judicial qualifications of four judges had been revoked due to their involvement in economic corruption. Meanwhile, members of the investigative committee of the judiciary in the seventh parliament had accused several judiciary officials and judges of economic corruption. Among these representatives, Saeed Mortazavi was accused of participating in the sale of exam questions for the Islamic Azad University during his tenure as Tehran's prosecutor. While judiciary officials have previously stated that the judiciary acts with "determination" in combating economic corruption, critics accuse this body of engaging in "political maneuvering" in economic corruption cases. In another part of his speech, Tavakoli referred to the prevention of petrochemical products from exiting the commodity exchange, stating: "When we prevented this, one of the ministers declared that anyone doing this is a socialist. Later, it became clear that this minister, along with his daughters and sons-in-law, owns nearly 14 factories." This parliament member did not mention the name of this minister. The ISNA news agency reported in Bahman last year that Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade, had made several official attempts to remove petrochemical products from the commodity exchange, but these efforts had not been successful. Members of parliament have previously accused Nematzadeh of not resigning from the boards of several companies after his appointment as minister. Nematzadeh has denied these accusations.