Iran's Attorney General Dismisses Zanjani's Claim of €22 Billion Capital as False

The Attorney General of the Islamic Republic dismissed Babak Zanjani's claim, the oil-related accused, of having €22 billion in cash to repay part of his debts as unsubstantiated. According to Mehr News Agency, Ebrahim Raisi, the Attorney General, stated on Thursday, December 5, that groups were sent to Malaysia and other countries, and it was confirmed that this claim is not credible. Babak Zanjani, the accused in the oil corruption case, claimed at the beginning of the eighth session of his trial in mid-October this year that he has €22 billion in cash outside Iran. He stated in court that he intended to reveal this on the last day of the trial, but since his accusers claimed he had no money to repay his debts, he was compelled to announce the figure earlier. Previously, Valiollah Seif, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice in the eleventh government, had referred to Zanjani's claim of €22 billion in cash as a 'big lie'. Pourmohammadi also expressed regret that 'such individuals mock the people and make such claims, mistaking the court for a stage of magic and lies.' The Tehran Prosecutor's Office has accused Babak Zanjani, who assisted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government in circumventing banking sanctions, of corruption, disruption of the economic system, extensive fraud against the National Iranian Oil Company, fraud against the FIB Bank, forgery of banking documents and currency transfers, forgery of interbank transfer orders, money laundering amounting to €1.967 billion, and spreading falsehoods. The National Iranian Oil Company and the Housing Bank have filed complaints against Zanjani, alleging that he deceived them by establishing fake companies and banks in Malaysia and Dubai, creating fraudulent banking systems for money transfers, and pretending that they were the same as secure international systems 'SWIFT and IBAN'. On Thursday, Ebrahim Raisi also dedicated part of his speech to following up on the Mina incident. According to the Attorney General of Iran, a legal task force has been formed under the supervision of the Deputy Consular of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow up on the Iranian casualties in Mina, which will begin its activities next week. Previously, Hassan Qashqavi, the Deputy Consular of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, had deemed the possibility of forming an international or bilateral fact-finding committee and filing a complaint against Saudi Arabia in international forums and institutions as unlikely. In the Mina incident, which occurred during this year's Hajj rituals, at least 465 Iranian pilgrims were killed.