Ghalibaf: I Oppose the Deposit of Municipal Revenues into the Government Treasury

The mayor of Tehran has deemed the transfer of financial oversight responsibilities of municipalities to the Court of Audit as "against the law" and has stated his opposition to depositing municipal revenues into the government treasury. According to Iranian news agencies, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, on Tuesday, January 28, during the presentation of the 1396 Tehran Municipality budget bill in the open session of the Tehran City Council, opposed several clauses of the sixth development plan. Ghalibaf referred to a provision in the sixth development plan bill that, according to him, "transfers all supervisory responsibilities in the financial and auditing domain of municipalities across the country to the Court of Audit." He considered this provision "against the constitution" and urged the members of the Guardian Council to pay attention to this issue in their reviews. The mayor of Tehran stated that "a non-governmental public entity does not include government budgets" and previously, the Guardian Council had announced that "the Court of Audit cannot interfere in the budgets of municipalities." Ghalibaf also opposed Clause 21 of the 1396 budget law, stating that he views this clause as tantamount to the "dissolution" of councils. According to the mayor of Tehran, this clause mandates that "non-governmental public organizations and city councils and municipalities must deposit any income into the government treasury." Ghalibaf added that if this clause is implemented, municipalities will transform from a "non-governmental public entity into a governmental entity under the Ministry of Interior." In another part of his speech, he criticized the government's reduction of this entity's budget, announcing a 46% decrease in its budget for the upcoming year. The mayor of Tehran also reported on his telephone calls and correspondence with the Guardian Council to prevent the approval of the 96 budget bill, stating that "if the bill is approved, it will cause severe damage to municipalities." He announced the proposed budget for the next year for this entity as 18,489 billion tomans, of which 11,833 billion tomans is cash and 6,656 billion tomans is non-cash. Ghalibaf's opposition to some clauses and provisions of the sixth development plan and the 1396 budget law has become public amid recent ambiguities and questions in the media regarding part of the financial performance of the municipality. The transfer of some municipal properties in Tehran with special discounts to certain managers and individuals is one of the most important cases currently under investigation by the judiciary. Last June, the Shargh newspaper reported, citing a member of the Tehran City Council, about a "1,700 billion tomans ambiguity" in the budget report for the year 89 of the municipality of this city. Rahmatollah Hafezi, a member of the Tehran City Council, identified "ownership documents for 454 parcels of land" in Tehran, "aggregated lists of salaries and benefits of official personnel" of the municipality, and "paid benefits" as some of the ambiguities in the budget performance of the municipality for the year 89.