Committee Member: Zanjani's Court Did Not Address the Case of 12 Ahmadinejad Administration Managers

A member of the committee investigating Babak Zanjani's case in the parliament stated that the court ignored Zanjani's "supporters" and did not address the case of 12 managers from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration who had facilitated his "violations." Amir Abbas Soltani said in an interview with ILNA on Friday, February 19, that the main flaw of Zanjani's court was its disregard for his supporters. He emphasized that the court did not address the case of 12 managers from Ahmadinejad's government, who were at the ministerial and deputy ministerial level and had enabled Zanjani's violations. Soltani had previously accused Ahmadinejad's Minister of Intelligence, Minister of Economy, Central Bank Governor, and Minister of Oil of being involved in Zanjani's case and allowing him to sell oil in a meeting. Meanwhile, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi stated on February 15 that several ministers from the previous administration who had signed documents related to Zanjani were under investigation. Previously, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, had reported on October 6, 2014, that investigations were being conducted on three ministers and the Central Bank Governor regarding Zanjani's case. Babak Zanjani is accused in his indictment of receiving "one million barrels of oil worth 300 million euros" from the Iranian oil company and only paying "160 million euros" of the 2.7 billion euros he was obligated to pay, spending the remainder on personal matters. Soltani further stated that the only serious development in Zanjani's case was the initiation of selling his assets to cover part of his debts, and to date, "not a single rial of these debts has been paid." He announced that a five-member committee had been formed at the court's request to appraise Zanjani's assets and report to the judiciary. According to Soltani, the value of Zanjani's assets in Iran is about 2.4 trillion tomans, of which about 60% cannot be sold due to claims from Zanjani's family and other creditors. Asghar Hindi, responsible for collecting the Ministry of Oil's claims, stated on February 16 that the process of selling Zanjani's assets had begun and sales would commence next week. Abolqasem Salavati, the judge in Zanjani's case, announced in December that due to Zanjani providing a "promissory note" from a foreign country and bank to "pay and guarantee payment" of his debt to the Iranian Ministry of Oil, he agreed to extend the deadline for one month for Zanjani to pay his debt. The previous one-month deadline set by the court ended on January 19, and the judge agreed to extend it at Zanjani's lawyer's request. However, the National Iranian Oil Company announced that Zanjani had not taken any action to pay his debts, and his court session resumed. Nevertheless, Rasoul Kouhpayehzadeh, Zanjani's lawyer, reported on Friday that the judge stated that the request for Zanjani's release and the cancellation of his temporary detention is "under review." According to Mehr News Agency, Kouhpayehzadeh commented on his client's debt payments, saying, "Let the case proceed without media discussions. We might have a bombshell news in the coming weeks." Babak Zanjani and his lawyer had previously stated that as long as Western sanctions against Iran are in place, it is impossible to deposit Zanjani's debts into the National Iranian Oil Company's account. Ali Akbar Maherkhzad, the legal affairs manager of the National Iranian Oil Company, described these statements as "pretexts" and stated that the company is willing to have its claims from Zanjani deposited even into sanctioned accounts and "blocked" until the sanctions are lifted and transferred to Iran. Maherkhzad has repeatedly accused Zanjani and his lawyers of making claims of payment to "exploit for propaganda, waste time, and prolong litigation." In this context, Babak Zanjani "has not yet taken any special action to pay his debts." The Tehran prosecutor requested the "harshest punishment" for Babak Zanjani. The Ministry of Oil: The process of selling Zanjani's assets has begun.