Conflicting Reports on the Reason for the 'Change' of the Police Chief of Khorasan Razavi

After Iranian media reported the sudden 'change' of Qader Karimi, the police chief of Khorasan Razavi province, the official reason given for his removal was 'health issues.' However, unconfirmed reports suggest his involvement in an '18 billion tomans' corruption case. Karimi was dismissed just 13 months after his appointment as the police chief of Khorasan Razavi. Hossein Ashtari, the commander of the Islamic Republic's police force, appointed Colonel Pasdar Ebrahim Qorbanzadeh, who previously served as the deputy police chief of Khorasan Razavi and Sistan and Baluchestan, as the acting police chief of Khorasan Razavi. While unconfirmed reports indicate that Mr. Karimi was 'arrested' following his dismissal on charges related to a national corruption case amounting to 18 billion tomans, the political and security deputy of the Khorasan Razavi governor used the term 'change' instead of dismissal and attributed the reason to Mr. Karimi's 'health issues.' Mohammad Rahim Norouziyan described Mr. Karimi as a 'good, hardworking, and dedicated force' who was 'granted leave from the province to follow up on his medical issues.' According to Mr. Norouziyan, 'He had health problems, and continuing work was difficult for him. He had recently undergone angioplasty, and for this reason, it was not possible for him to continue working, and there was no other reason for this.' The Asr Iran website noted at the time of his appointment as the police chief of Khorasan Razavi by Hossein Ashtari that he had a history of 'voluntary' service in the front lines and 'joined the Islamic Revolutionary Committee in 1981 and has been serving in intelligence and operational responsibilities since then.' According to this report, Karimi was appointed as the 'head of the anti-narcotics police of Fars province' after the merger and formation of the police force, and after demonstrating competence, he served as the head of the anti-narcotics police of Greater Tehran. His last position before becoming the police chief of Khorasan Razavi was as the deputy commander of Greater Tehran police. While reports of this police chief's financial corruption have not been confirmed, the dismissal of a police chief in Iran in connection with an economic corruption case is not unprecedented. In 2014, Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam, the sixth commander of the Islamic Republic's police force appointed by the leader, was dismissed due to the discovery of a corruption network within the police force. The Khabar Online website wrote in 2015 that 'Ahmadi Moghadam's dismissal was not a voluntary transfer and was related to the discovery of a financial corruption network within the police force. He himself was detained in connection with this case for at least two days.' This website added based on its 'investigations' and information from 'informed political and parliamentary sources' at that time that 'in addition to Ahmadi Moghadam, who has been under interrogation since then, at least 12 senior officials of the police foundation and generals associated with this network were also arrested.' Khabar Online reported the initial amount of 'misuse' discovered in this case as '12 trillion rials' and wrote: 'By order of high-ranking officials, a kind of information trench has been created around this case to prevent any information about its dimensions from leaking out.' Conflicting reports about the dismissal of the police chief of Khorasan Razavi have emerged while the head of Interpol for the police force announced on Friday, October 20, that seven to eight red notices are issued weekly to Interpol for tracking and arresting Iranian criminals. According to Hadi Shirzad, 'These actions are not only related to cases of economic crimes but also involve other crimes such as those accused of murder or fraud.' In Iran, news about embezzlement and corruption among government officials is frequently reported. Several members of parliament and political figures claim that the Islamic Republic is afflicted by 'systematic corruption.'