Government Forces Attacked Investors' Gathering in Front of Judiciary Chief's Office

Hundreds of investors and defrauded individuals from the pre-sale company 'Razaayat Khodro Taravat Novin' gathered on Tuesday, September 7, in front of the Judiciary Chief's office in Tehran, demanding attention to their grievances, but faced an assault from government forces. Recent reports from Iranian news agencies have highlighted a '30 trillion tomans embezzlement' case involving this company, with '38,000 to 50,000 plaintiffs' who had paid amounts for pre-purchasing vehicles. The website Tejarat News stated: 'The fraud by vehicle registration companies in Takestan County, Qazvin Province, has turned into one of the largest legal cases in recent days.' According to videos shared on social media, the protesters chanted slogans such as 'Look behind the glass – we don’t want it.' The gathering was violently dispersed by government forces, and protesters shouted 'Shameless, shameless.' Islamic Republic officials have not commented on the government's handling of the investors on that Tuesday. According to Tasnim News Agency, the protests by investors and defrauded individuals from 'Razaayat Khodro Taravat Novin' began over two weeks ago in Takestan and Qazvin cities. ILNA reported that one of the protests took place on Sunday, September 5, in front of the Qazvin Governorate. One protester told ILNA: 'The automotive activity started in the province in 2013, and we invested there; officials awarded the company’s agents with certificates of appreciation and supported them, and people invested due to this trust.' Another protester asked: 'If this company has been operating illegally for ten years, why was it not stopped?' They questioned where the company managers obtained the vehicles they delivered to some customers. According to ILNA, the defrauded individuals demanded that 'repayment of the principal amount is of no benefit to them; as they have sold their assets to invest in this company over the past few years, and due to the current inflation, the principal amount or payment according to bank interest has no meaning.' They requested 'payment of claims based on the latest contract; because with the money they previously paid by selling their homes, gold, and other assets, they cannot even buy one car today.' Judicial authorities in Qazvin Province announced that the first phase of selling or transferring assets to pay claims under fifty million tomans will begin in the coming days. However, Ali Shabani, the Chief Justice of Qazvin Province, stated that 'the paid profits will be legal, and the payment of large profits is unacceptable.' Two days earlier, on September 3, he had reported at a protest gathering about the 'determination of the judiciary to seize all assets and properties of the company’s CEO.' Previously, according to the state news agency IRNA, Mohammad Samadi, the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Takestan County, reported on August 25 the 'arrest of associates' of the CEO of Razaayat Khodro Taravat Novin, including his wife, brother, and lawyer. In this context, IRNA reported that the CEO of Razaayat Khodro Taravat Novin had been arrested in recent days, and to pay citizens' claims from this company, all accounts of the company’s managers were frozen, and they were banned from leaving the country. Tejarat News reported that individuals claiming to pay high profits through cryptocurrency and Forex transactions attracted billions of tomans in investments from people in Takestan, Qazvin, Tehran, and Karaj with promises of monthly profits of 5 to 15 percent.