Lawyer of Hamid Baghaei: My Client is Accused of Embezzlement

Ali-Asghar Hosseini, one of the defense lawyers for Hamid Baghaei, the executive deputy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his presidency, has stated that his client is accused of 'embezzlement.' Mr. Hosseini explained in response to questions from the Young Journalists Club that the accusation against Mr. Baghaei relates to 'the late period of the tenth government,' where 'the issue of paying bonuses to some ministers, officials, and government authorities was raised, and it was ultimately decided that instead of directly paying bonuses to these individuals, an amount of 300 million tomans would be paid by the presidency to a loan fund from which 16 government officials had taken loans, so that from this 300 million tomans, all or part of the loans received by these individuals from that fund up to 25 million tomans would be settled.' According to the defense lawyer of the former executive deputy, this amount was 'paid at the end of Mr. Baghaei's tenure as executive deputy and head of the institution' and 'Mr. Baghaei's name was also on that list of 16 individuals whose loans were partially settled by the institution, and 25 million tomans of his received loan was settled.' Mr. Hosseini added that the prosecutor's office deemed this payment by Hamid Baghaei as 'illegal and criminal' and has charged him with 'embezzlement.' The defense lawyer of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's executive deputy also stated: 'Documents and evidence regarding the legality of this payment and the refutation of the charges against Mr. Baghaei have been presented in preliminary defenses by him, and supplementary defenses will be provided by the team of defense lawyers who have taken on the responsibility of defending him.' Another part of the defense lawyer's explanation criticized Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesman of the judiciary. Mr. Hosseini said: 'It is unclear why the honorable spokesman of the judiciary, who has always emphasized the respect for individuals and refraining from announcing the full names of defendants, has suddenly changed his position regarding Mr. Baghaei.' Meanwhile, Mr. Ejei defended his action of announcing Hamid Baghaei's name as a defendant. In an interview with Mehr News Agency, the spokesman referred to several legal provisions and said: 'If a person is arrested, should we say they have not been arrested? Or should we not mention their name? If a journalist asks whether Mr. Baghaei or Mr. Rahimi has been arrested, should we not respond?' Mr. Ejei added: 'In press conferences, if a journalist asks whether a certain manager or individual has been arrested on this charge, I have responded that I am unable to provide details for legal reasons until a final ruling is made. Because the individual's name has been mentioned with the charge. However, if the question is whether a certain individual, for example, Mr. Siyasi in Persepolis, has been arrested? I will respond yes, this individual has been arrested because the journalist did not refer to the charge.'