Five Arrested at Jiroft University of Medical Sciences on Embezzlement Charges

Ahmad Ali Anjam, the head of the Jiroft judiciary, announced on Thursday, December 23, that a case of embezzlement had occurred at the University of Medical Sciences in this city. According to the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, Anjam stated that five individuals have been arrested in connection with this case, noting that they are employees of the Jiroft University of Medical Sciences. As reported by the head of the Jiroft judiciary, following a report from the General Inspection Office of Kerman Province regarding the embezzlement by some employees of the Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, the case has been placed on the agenda of the "special judicial system." According to this report, the detainees were summoned to the first branch of the public and revolutionary prosecutor's office in Jiroft, where they were informed of the charges and issued temporary detention orders for embezzlement. This judicial official did not provide details on the amount of embezzlement but mentioned that "so far, 445 million and 700 thousand tomans of the embezzled funds have been returned to the public treasury." The head of the Jiroft judiciary also announced that further investigations into this case are ongoing. This is not the first time news of embezzlement in Iranian universities has been published. Previously, reports of embezzlement had emerged from the Zanjan University of Medical Sciences and universities in Mazandaran and Kerman. Saadollah Nasiri Qeydari, the then representative of Zanjan and a member of the Education and Research Commission of the Parliament, stated in 2010 that "the accurate amount of embezzlement by the financial employee of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences was about 350 million tomans." The two billion toman embezzlement by three officials at Mazandaran University was also carried out through two methods: obtaining loans in the names of students' relatives and not paying the installments or collecting students' debts during settlement in the personal accounts of the embezzlers. The accused in the embezzlement case at Kerman University also "along with two accomplices at the same university, illegally withdrew from the university accounts and deposited into personal accounts, committing a billion toman embezzlement." Additionally, Iranian media frequently report on embezzlement and financial corruption in banks, institutions, charitable funds, and government agencies. Alongside embezzlement cases in Iranian universities, reports related to an "eight thousand billion toman embezzlement" in the Cultural Reserve Fund and the issue of the so-called "astronomical payslips" of some managers have also made headlines in recent months.