Babak Zanjani: I Will Pay Oil Money by Monday

Babak Zanjani, the imprisoned businessman, promised in his fourth court session that within two days, in two stages, he would provide a bank guarantee of "1,968 million euros" through a "reputable" foreign bank to settle his debts with Iran's Ministry of Oil. The fourth court session of Babak Zanjani and two other defendants in his case, Hamid Fallah Heravi and Mehdi Shams, was held on Saturday, November 9, in Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, where Zanjani defended himself. According to Fars News Agency, Zanjani stated: "The amount of 1,968 million euros will be presented to the beneficiary, the 'HK' company, through a reputable bank; however, since it is a large sum, four people need to sign, and two will sign after the Saturday and Sunday holidays, and the matter will be resolved." However, according to IRNA, Zanjani remarked: "The constant posturing and claims of readiness to receive claims are all a political stance because there is no means to collect and no account number to receive the funds." Additionally, according to ISNA, Zanjani announced that on February 21, 2014, one day after a meeting with Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the First Deputy of the Judiciary, and Mahmoud Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran Prosecutor, the Iranian government "approved" taking his assets in lieu of his debts, and he also provided an "irrevocable power of attorney" for the transfer of his assets on March 10 of the same year. In another part of his remarks, he stated that a "15 million dollar airplane" along with other assets such as "expensive carpets," villas, and houses had been "seized," and "15,000 square meters" of his land in the Fereshteh area of Tehran had been "sold." The Iranian Ministry of Oil has declared Zanjani's debt to be 2.8 billion euros, and Bijan Zanganeh, the Minister of Oil, has repeatedly stated that Zanjani's assets "do not cover his debts." Abolghasem Salavati, the judge in Zanjani's case, announced on October 5 that Zanjani's foreign lawyers had stated they were willing to pay his debt to the Iranian Ministry of Oil by "submitting an unconditional draft guarantee." In response to this statement, Ali Akbar Maharkhzad, the legal affairs manager of the National Iranian Oil Company, wrote to Judge Salavati that "provided the guarantee and the issuing bank are verified and the debt is collectable, the National Iranian Oil Company is ready to cooperate and take necessary actions." Maharkhzad also emphasized on October 14 that there had been no contact with the Ministry of Oil regarding this matter and that not even "one cent" had been deposited into the company's account. Meanwhile, Zahra Rezaei, Zanjani's lawyer in Malaysia, stated that Zanjani had transferred his assets to "trusted individuals" after sanctions, and these individuals would only be accountable to Zanjani personally, not to the Iranian judiciary. Zanjani referred to his indictment as "extortion" and stated that "the Iranian prosecutor's office does not have the authority to investigate foreign banks." He also accused Bijan Zanganeh, the Minister of Oil in Hassan Rouhani's government, of declaring the former minister's "memorandum of understanding" as "invalid" due to having "a managed order for political actions and dealing with his critics." Zanjani has been accused in court of receiving "one million barrels of oil worth 300 million euros" from the Iranian oil company and having paid "160 million euros" of the 2.7 billion euros he was supposed to pay, using the remainder for personal matters. Meanwhile, Amir Abbas Soltani, a member of the Energy Commission of the Parliament, announced on Friday, October 10, that his contracts with the Ministry of Oil exceeded four billion dollars, accusing the previous government of having "provided him with 12 oil and gas condensate ships without necessary guarantees." Zanjani stated in his defense: "They portray us as disruptors and threaten me with prison and execution; do not scare me with prison and execution; I have sacrificed my life for the country." He further emphasized: "If the issue is the collection of public funds, why is the 5.8 billion euros that the Minister sold to someone not being collected? This person is the same one who did not even have an account and sometimes borrowed money from me." Some media, including Mehr News Agency, reported in May with titles like "A Second Babak Zanjani Has Emerged," that "the National Iranian Oil Company has signed a contract with an oil intermediary to sell gas condensates to an Emirati refinery, and notably, it is said that he has not yet settled his over five billion dollar oil debt." The Iranian Minister of Oil confirmed the existence of a five billion dollar oil claim on Tuesday, July 21, stating that "this money is safely placed without any damage and, like other blocked assets, will return to the country after the sanctions are lifted." Zanjani, in another part of his defense, claimed: "I was threatened with death in prison, and every day an intellectual wrote an article against me, and perhaps only the law was observed for me, while others were innocent." The Minister of Oil had ordered that the oil cargo of the ships be "buried or burned in the plain." Zanjani referred to his efforts to sell Iranian oil, stating that the Ministry of Intelligence during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government had sent a letter to the Ministry of Oil requesting clarification on the fate of a thousand ships that were at sea for oil storage, and since these ships were unflagged, there was a feeling of danger regarding them. He claimed that due to his "connections" with the "Chinese army," he negotiated with them, and ultimately the cargo of these ships was unloaded in warehouses in that country. Zanjani added: "These ships had been at sea for more than three years and had accumulated three meters of algae to the extent that the Minister of Oil had ordered that these cargoes be buried or burned in the plain, but it was stated that burning the cargoes could also burn villages." He accused the Iranian Ministry of Oil of not providing him with the necessary documents to return these oil cargoes, which is why he was unable to retrieve them.