An Accused in the Cultural Fund Case Has Fled Iran with a 500 Billion Toman Debt

A member of the Education and Research Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly stated that one of the accused in the Cultural Fund case has fled Iran with a debt of 500 billion tomans. Jabbar Kuchakinejad mentioned this in an interview with ILNA news agency on Tuesday, November 8. Regarding the latest status of the Cultural Fund case, Mr. Kuchakinejad said that 'more than 20 individuals' related to this case had been arrested and imprisoned, but 'they have now been released on bail and have committed to returning the funds.' According to this parliament member, these individuals are currently 'trying to fulfill their commitment to return the amounts.' In May of this year, Mahdi Nikdel, the CEO of the Cultural Fund, stated that some of the bank debtors of this fund, who were 'wealthy individuals,' had been released to 'convert their assets into cash and pay their debts.' However, according to Jabbar Kuchakinejad, 'some' of the accused in the Cultural Fund case, including a person referred to as Mr. M, have fled the country. This member of the Education and Research Commission added, without naming the individual, that his lawyer 'is supposed to arrange for him to return to the country and take action to return about 400 to 500 billion tomans that pertain to him.' He had also announced in June of this year that several accused related to this case had been 'returned while attempting to leave the country.' Jabbar Kuchakinejad called for the protection of the accused in this case until their situation is resolved in court and added that 'several individuals connected to the Cultural Fund case have been taken off planes and returned.' According to ILNA, Kuchakinejad noted that the case remains 'open' and suggested that if 'new leads' are obtained, additional individuals may also be 'arrested and interrogated.' The Cultural Fund has over 800,000 members affiliated with the Ministry of Education and pays annual interest on the monthly deposits of educators. The first report of financial corruption in this fund was made in September 2016 by Hossein Maqsoudi, a representative of Sabzevar in the parliament, who announced the amount of this financial misconduct to be 8 trillion tomans. In this regard, the newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh concluded in a report that the annual budget of the Ministry of Education is 26 trillion tomans, suggesting that the amount of this financial misconduct was nearly one-third of this ministry's budget. However, Jabbar Kuchakinejad has now cited the dimensions of this financial corruption to be much greater, around 14 to 15 trillion tomans. In terms of these financial misconducts, various political factions in Iran accuse each other of involvement, with Mahmoud Sadeghi, a reformist member of parliament, stating that these misconducts occurred between 2007 and 2013 during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency and that in 2013, when the fund was handed over to Rouhani's government, it was revealed that the fund had '4 trillion tomans in uncollectible assets.' Conversely, given that Shahabuddin Ghandali, the former head of this fund who has been arrested in connection with this financial corruption, was appointed during Hassan Rouhani's government, conservatives blame Rouhani's administration for the issue and have used this topic against the Rouhani government in this year's election debates. Last November, the parliament voted for an investigation into this case, and Mr. Kuchakinejad promised that the results of this investigation would soon be presented in the open session of the parliament.