Half of the Cash in Babak Zanjani's Control Has Not Returned to the Treasury

Kazem Palizdar, the Secretary of Iran's Anti-Corruption Headquarters, stated that half of the $1.8 billion in cash allocated to Babak Zanjani for distribution among contractors has not been distributed among them and has not been returned to the treasury. According to the state news agency IRNA, Palizdar emphasized that 'today economic corruption has entered the country's economic system like termites' and asserted that 'this government is serious in combating these corruptions and there are no red lines.' He noted that since the issuance of Ayatollah Khamenei's eight-article decree until 2013, which spans approximately 14 years, 'no serious action has been taken in the fight against economic corruption.' Last week, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, spokesman and first deputy of the judiciary, stated in a press conference that the charge against Babak Zanjani in the indictment issued for him is not 'moharebeh' (waging war against God). Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice in the eleventh government, also provided explanations regarding Babak Zanjani's case in an interview with ISNA last Monday. According to the Minister of Justice, 'the main issue in Babak Zanjani's case is the return of about 6 trillion tomans of the country's missing funds.' He also raised the question, 'Will the missing funds be revived by execution or life imprisonment?' The Minister of Justice of Hassan Rouhani's government also discussed the reason for not confronting Zanjani's supporters in the previous government, stating, 'Those who were in the government and assisted him claim they unknowingly provided him with money. They thought this was a way to overcome the sanctions and other conditions. But let's assume that everyone knowingly gave this money and we condemn them all; will our money come back?' Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, the Minister of Oil, was one of the first officials in Hassan Rouhani's government to reveal details of Babak Zanjani's case. In December 2014, he stated in an interview with ISNA that 'Babak Zanjani embezzled 7 trillion tomans of the country's money.' The Oil Minister also referred to Zanjani's actions as 'one of the rarities of the age' and mentioned that 'more than 8 trillion tomans of the country's money was taken out of the country in this act, yet less than 1 trillion tomans of this money may return to the country; therefore, the country's money has been embezzled.' Babak Zanjani, who is said to have collaborated with Iran's Ministry of Oil during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to sell oil and transfer the money into the country after the intensification of international sanctions against Iran, was arrested in January 2014 for failing to pay his debts to the Ministry of Oil. Zanjani's name has also come up in the economic corruption case of Saeed Mortazavi, the head of the Social Security Organization, who is accused of transferring 137 companies of this organization to Babak Zanjani without adhering to legal regulations. Additionally, Mortazavi is accused of giving 'five checks amounting to 400 billion Japanese yen' to Babak Zanjani to pay his debt to the Ministry of Oil. Before his arrest, Babak Zanjani claimed to own more than 70 companies and tens of billions of dollars in assets both in Iran and abroad, but according to Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, his assets are insufficient to repay his debts.