Jahangiri: Corruption Has Reached High Officials in the Country

The First Vice President of Iran states that corruption has "grown and reached some high officials in the country." Eshaq Jahangiri, on Saturday, August 18, during a visit to the IRNA news agency, said: "In a period when it was possible and necessary to prevent corruption, it was not prevented, and some officials of the country were contaminated." Mr. Jahangiri identified the way to combat corruption as "non-discriminatory action" against corruption, regardless of which faction or personality these individuals are affiliated with. He added: "If action had been taken in a timely manner against the officials who have tainted the Islamic Republic with corruption, today it would not be the case that the fight against corruption has become a public concern for the nation." Jahangiri's remarks about the spread of corruption may refer to the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, where Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the first vice president, and Hamid Bakai, the executive vice president, have been imprisoned on charges of financial corruption. However, some close associates of Hassan Rouhani's government, including Hossein Fereydoun, the president's brother, and Mehdi Jahangiri, Jahangiri's brother, have also been detained on charges of financial corruption. Mehdi Jahangiri is the head of a financial group established during Hamid Bakai's presidency at the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization. He served as the deputy for investment at this organization during Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei's presidency in Ahmadinejad's first government. Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesman, also stated after the arrest of Hossein Fereydoun that "this issue should be the same for the head of the judiciary or the legislative branch, and the independent judiciary will act against others just as it did with the president's brother." The name of Fazel Larijani became prominent in late 2012 when Ahmadinejad publicly played a tape of his conversation with Saeed Mortazavi, the then head of the Social Security Organization. In this tape, Larijani proposes to Mortazavi to use the influence of his brothers in the government in exchange for certain economic privileges. In the past, some officials of the Islamic Republic and experts have spoken of "systematic corruption" in Iran and the support of some officials in various institutions for these corruptions. Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi, a representative from Rasht in the parliament, stated in April that corruption has spread so widely in Iran's structure that it is unlikely that the law can combat it, and it would be good for the fight against corruption to begin from the "office" of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran, said on Sunday, December 17, 2017, that "we have fallen into a trap of corruption. Corruption breeds corruption just as poverty breeds poverty." Ahmad Tavakoli, a prominent conservative figure, has also warned that government institutions in Iran have reached a stage of "systematic corruption" and that "the institutions responsible for fighting corruption have also become afflicted with varying degrees of corruption." However, Ayatollah Khamenei and the head of the judiciary have denied the existence of "systematic corruption" in the Islamic Republic. On the other hand, Mostafa Tajzadeh, a reformist political activist, wrote in an open letter to Ahmad Tavakoli that the Supreme Leader is only a "flag bearer of the fight against corruption" in thought and speech. According to Tajzadeh, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his appointees have either "become contaminated with corruption themselves, like the judiciary," or have "indirectly played a role in the spread of corruption; like the IRGC with its extensive involvement in economic affairs." The crisis of financial and credit institutions is one of the topics that has involved the roles of some Friday prayer leaders, judges, and the children of prominent clerics and political figures. Valiollah Seif, the head of the Central Bank, announced on December 12, 2017, that in disputes between the Central Bank and unauthorized financial institutions, in some cases, courts have ruled in favor of these institutions. Two days before that, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, emphasized that dealing with these financial institutions was very "difficult" and added, "Everyone was putting pressure on us, and letters were coming to us from all organizations. Strange people were making requests." Ahmad Tavakoli also stated that the CEO of the Thamen al-Hojjaj financial institution "has significant influence and even obtained the arrest warrant for Mr. Bahmani, the head of the Central Bank in the previous government." Previously, Iranian media had reported on the role of Manouchehr Mottaki, the former foreign minister of Iran, and some police officials in this institution. Abolfazl Mir Ali, the CEO of this institution, is the son-in-law of the former Friday prayer leader of Sabzevar. Meanwhile, Gholamhossein Esmaili, the head of the Tehran judiciary, announced on Saturday that a "long-term" prison sentence had been issued for Mr. Mir Ali. Mr. Esmaili did not mention the details of this sentence or the sentences of other defendants in the case. Rababeh Ebrahimi, the daughter of the former Friday prayer leader of Sabzevar and the wife of Abolfazl Mir Ali, is another member of the board of directors of this institution and the second defendant in this case.