Ejei Confirms Arrest of CEO of Cultural Teachers' Fund

Shahabuddin Ghondali, the CEO of Iran's Cultural Teachers' Fund, who has been accused of a financial misconduct amounting to 8 trillion tomans, has been arrested. The state news agency IRNA reported statements from Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for Iran's judiciary, confirming reports about Mr. Ghondali's arrest on Thursday, October 29. According to the judiciary spokesperson, Mr. Ghondali was arrested last Wednesday. This judicial official also mentioned that four other members of the Cultural Teachers' Fund were arrested in recent days. In recent weeks, conflicting reports about Shahabuddin Ghondali's arrest had been published, including a report from the Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, in early September stating that Mr. Ghondali was arrested along with his wife and stepson, but at that time, the CEO of the Cultural Teachers' Fund denied this, claiming that such reports were merely propagated based on enmity against him in cyberspace. The judiciary spokesperson did not disclose the names of the four other individuals arrested in connection with the financial misconduct case at the Cultural Teachers' Fund. However, some members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly have spoken about the involvement of Mr. Ghondali's wife and stepson in these misconducts, with Hossein Maqsoudi, a representative from Sabzevar, stating last month that these two had been arrested. The Cultural Teachers' Fund has over 800,000 members affiliated with the Ministry of Education and pays annual interest on the monthly deposits of teachers. According to Mahmoud Sadqi, a representative from Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the financial misconduct in this fund occurred between 2007 and 2013 during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. However, Shahabuddin Ghondali has denied the allegations of financial misconduct. Alireza Naseri has been appointed as the replacement for Shahabuddin Ghondali in the Cultural Teachers' Fund by the Minister of Education on the same day of Mr. Ghondali's arrest. In this context, the Ministry of Education reacted to the news of the '8 trillion toman embezzlement' with a motion to impeach the Minister of Education submitted to the parliamentary board with 40 signatures. A member of the Judicial Commission of the Parliament confirmed the misconduct in the Cultural Teachers' Fund, stating, 'an embezzlement equivalent to one-third of the education budget.'