Larijani: We Will Investigate the Allegations Raised During Rabiei's Impeachment Session

Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, stated that despite the prevalence of "accusations" in the Islamic Republic, the Parliament will address the "allegations" made against certain individuals during the impeachment session of Ali Rabiei, the former Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare of Iran. The Islamic Consultative Assembly impeached the Minister for the second time in less than a year on Wednesday, August 8, and after hearing Rabiei's defense, they were not convinced by his performance, voting 129 to remove him from the ministry. Some supporters of Rabiei's impeachment, on a day that the news website Khabar Online referred to as the day of "arguments and accusations," accused the former labor minister of "lobbying," launching a "publicity stunt" using workers, and "dealing" with members of Parliament to avoid impeachment. According to the IRNA news agency, hours after the impeachment, Larijani referred to the "allegations" raised in the Parliament and stated, "We will not allow this trend to continue and will definitely investigate it." He noted that in Iran, "this type of accusation has become common, starting from electoral debates and has caused great damage to society." The Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly added, "Sometimes, some people go from one city to another and make accusations without anyone addressing it; but this time, we will definitely investigate the matter in Parliament and will not allow the atmosphere to remain murky and ambiguous. It cannot be that someone makes a statement and leaves; we must definitely investigate it." He did not provide further details on how the Parliament intends to address these accusations. However, Larijani stated during the impeachment session that "naming individuals is very wrong; from the government and Mr. Rabiei, who said that someone came and asked for money, I want that person's name to be announced so that the supervisory board can address this matter as soon as possible." He was referring to the accusations made by the former labor minister against Mohammad Reza Pourabrahimi, the head of the Economic Commission of Parliament. Rabiei accused Pourabrahimi, saying, "The head of the Welfare Organization of Sabzevar is a prominent woman, but I was pressured to either remove this person or we will impeach you. In my office, right in front of me, without any fear, they look me in the eye and say to deposit 400 to 500 million tomans into the account of the person in question every year and give it to anyone I say." The name of Massoud Pezeshkian, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, was raised during the impeachment of the labor minister. The accusations between the minister and the representatives turned the impeachment session into a scene of mutual accusations and financial and economic corruption claims. Alireza Rastehmi, the first representative in favor of Rabiei's impeachment, said, "One of Mr. Bandpay's {head of the Welfare Organization} emissaries told me that we will give you 500 million tomans in the name of a charity, so that no issues regarding the Welfare Organization are raised." Rastehmi addressed the former labor minister, stating that "this is not a publicity stunt" and that he "did not address the issues and problems of the Welfare Organization and the illegal actions of the presidency of this organization." This representative also claimed that "900 million tomans were spent on the lavish party and conference of Mr. Bandpay" and that he had also spent a lot on his "European trips," where he "hit two birds with one stone." Mahmoud Negahban Salami, as the second supporter of Rabiei's impeachment, accused him of "using workers as a tool for his own preservation instead of creating jobs and providing for the young people's employment and paying the workers' claims." This representative stated that "corruption is rampant in the economic substructure" of the Ministry of Labor and added that some "retired and opportunistic" individuals surrounding Rabiei are thinking about "amassing wealth." Ali Akbari, a representative from Borujerd, also criticized Rabiei, saying that "even during the impeachment, the minister's colleagues came to me, but nothing happened except for promises." Qasem Jasmii, another supporter of the impeachment, also mentioned that "this morning, some representatives were negotiating with the minister, and according to Mr. Maqsoudi, dinners, lunches, and diplomatic visits in the past few days have neutralized this impeachment." Hossein Maqsoudi, a representative from Sabzevar, also criticized Hassan Rouhani for Rabiei's continued presence as the former labor minister, describing Rabiei as "the epitome of lobbying and playing with people's emotions." This representative told Rabiei that "you are the cause of the turmoil that has made people distrust the system today" and that Rabiei's "lobbying with people's emotions, playing around, and crying" has become "common knowledge." After Hassan Norouzi accused Rabiei's son of "being involved with Mr. Taghizadeh's son in Dubai," Massoud Pezeshkian criticized the atmosphere of "accusation and slander" in the impeachment session and urged the representatives to have "fairness." He defended Rabiei and opposed the impeachment, adding that "when I was a minister, they said my children were abroad and my daughter was driving a BMW. Now that my children have never seen abroad and at that time had no car and did not use the ministry's car. Fairness is a good thing." Following Mr. Pezeshkian's remarks, Mohammad Reza Pourabrahimi addressed him, saying: "Mr. Pezeshkian, did you observe piety? Are you sure that no violations occurred in this ministry? The Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence should investigate the extensive files surrounding Rabiei's associates and the many economic problems arising from this matter and report to the people." He asked: "Mr. Pezeshkian, what is the relationship between Zahra Pezeshkian, the finance officer of Jam Petrochemical, and you?" Abdulhamid Khodari also opposed the impeachment of the former Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, calling Rabiei's impeachment "illegal" and asking the board of directors to pay a penance for not adhering to the oath they took. Mr. Rabiei had also attended a parliamentary impeachment session last March but managed to secure the necessary vote of confidence to remain in the Ministry of Labor by a one-vote margin. In the public session on Wednesday, Ali Rabiei referred to his impeachment as "attacking the minister" and predicted that "five months later, in all the areas for which the minister is being impeached today, society will ask whether fundamental improvements have occurred." In one of his last interviews as Minister of Labor, he emphasized that by the end of this year, the economic pressure on the country and the people due to U.S. sanctions would increase, predicting that as a result of the imposition of new sanctions, one million jobs would be lost in Iran.