Judiciary: The main defendant in the Taravat Novin automotive company case sentenced to death

A judicial official in Qazvin province announced that the main defendant in the case of 'Taravat Novin Automotive Company' has been sentenced to death. Abdul Karim Kalhor, the special judge for economic disruptors, stated on Saturday, March 2, that 'other effective defendants' in this case have also been sentenced to 'long-term imprisonment.' According to the Judiciary News Agency, he added that this case has more than 28,000 plaintiffs and includes 28 real and legal defendants. The identities of the defendants have not been disclosed, and according to this judicial official, the verdict for the main defendant is subject to appeal, while the verdicts for the other defendants are final. In the indictment issued in early December of this year, the main defendant was introduced as 'the CEO of Taravat Novin Automotive Company and CEO and board member of Shirin Noosh Sabatak Food Industries,' referring to Mohammad Reza Ghafari. Last year, following weeks of protests by defrauded investors, it was announced that Mohammad Reza Ghafari, the owner and CEO of this holding, along with seven of his relatives and close associates, were arrested. According to ISNA, Taravat Novin Company began operations in the early 2010s with the involvement of retired military officials and initially paid large profits to its customers using a Ponzi scheme. In June of this year, Hossein Rajabi, the prosecutor of Qazvin, announced that this company had signed more than 34,550 contracts with citizens. Iranian judicial officials have provided varying statistics regarding the amount of fraud committed by this company. For instance, Asghar Jahangir, the spokesperson for the Iranian Judiciary, stated in September of this year: 'Plaintiffs had entrusted more than 8 trillion tomans to the mentioned company... however, the main amounts agreed upon in the plaintiffs' contracts are much more than eight trillion, amounting to approximately 42 trillion tomans.'