Daily Savings of 'Seven Million Liters of Gasoline' in 2013 and 2014

The Executive Vice President of Iran states that through the modernization of urban and intercity taxi fleets and the cancellation of many 'illegal' fuel cards in 2013 and 2014, approximately seven million liters of gasoline have been 'saved' daily. He also reported about 90 billion tomans of 'financial mismanagement' in the Fuel Transportation Management Headquarters during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, noting that part of the claims has been 'returned' to the treasury. According to the state news agency IRNA, Mohammad Shariatmadari, the Executive Vice President of Hassan Rouhani, on Friday, December 21, announced the issuance of virtual scrapping certificates and the receipt of their equivalent in rials from importers as one of the 'financial mismanagements' of this headquarters in the previous government. According to Mr. Shariatmadari, these 'financial mismanagements' have led to the accumulation of 'significant amounts' of money in the accounts of the Fuel Transportation Management Headquarters in Iran. He added, 'Recently, based on coordination with the Treasury of the country and according to the decisions of the eleventh government, these funds are being transferred to the government treasury after settling debts incurred during the previous administration.' Previously, some members of the Iranian parliament had criticized 'financial corruption' in the Fuel Transportation Management Headquarters. In this context, in January 2013, a request from several representatives for an investigation into the performance of the Fuel Transportation Management Headquarters from the first year of the Fourth Development Plan until August 2013 was approved, but the results of this report have yet to be read from the podium of the parliament. Omid Karimiann, a member of the investigation committee from the Fuel Transportation Management Headquarters, stated on July 2 that based on the case documents, the income of the Fuel Transportation Headquarters was deposited into 'the personal accounts of the managers of this headquarters.' Mr. Shariatmadari also mentioned that 70,000 vehicles were retired in 2013 and more than 100,000 old vehicles this year. He considered the scrapping of old vehicles by car importers an effective measure to expedite and facilitate conditions and a serious obstacle to direct government intervention in this matter, adding, 'This plan was implemented a bit slower than necessary at the beginning, which was natural, and now, according to the statistics provided, it has gained acceptable speed.' The Executive Vice President stated, 'Assisting in the modernization of urban and intercity taxi fleets and also canceling many illegal fuel cards led to savings of about seven million liters of gasoline per day.' Earlier, Hossein Hashemi, the Deputy of Industries and Energy at the Fuel Transportation Management Headquarters, reported on November 16 the elimination of six million fuel cards and stated that with the removal of these cards from a total of 24 million smart cards issued in the country, subsidized gasoline consumption in the first five months of the year decreased by 7 million and 300 thousand liters compared to the same period last year.