Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Protests to Qassem Soleimani in a Letter

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, accused Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a letter of intervening and advising officials, which led to the release of Eshaq Jahangiri's brother, the first vice president of Hassan Rouhani. He referred to Mehdi Jahangiri, the vice president of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, head of the financial tourism group, and one of the founders of the Tourism Bank, whose arrest in Kerman was confirmed by the first vice president in October 2017. Eshaq Jahangiri confirmed the news of his brother's arrest on Instagram, stating that 'this issue was predictable' and expressing hope that 'there would be no political exploitation and that justice, the fight against corruption, and the rule of law would be applied equally for all.' Despite Mehdi Jahangiri defending his economic activities and the state-affiliated news agency IRNA declaring his activities as 'private,' Gholamali Abuhamzeh, the commander of the Sarallah Corps who arrested him, labeled him as 'one of the roots of corruption.' During the last presidential election in Iran, several principlist figures accused Mehdi Jahangiri of 'lobbying.' In his letter to Qassem Soleimani, Ahmadinejad wrote: 'It is said that you intervened in the case of the arrest of Mr. Jahangiri's brother, one of the main shareholders of the Tourism Bank, and facilitated his release by advising the relevant officials.' Ahmadinejad added that 'with the false accusation of delivering amounts by you to Mr. Beqaei, a great injustice has been done to this faithful, pure, revolutionary servant.' Ahmadinejad expressed regret that Soleimani did not 'clearly testify' in this matter and ignored 'numerous correspondences and repeated requests.' He accused Soleimani of causing Beqaei to be subjected to 'the heaviest unjust punishments' due to his 'shortcomings,' and that Beqaei has been in solitary confinement under medical supervision for months. Ahmadinejad sarcastically wrote in this letter, published on his personal Telegram channel and sent to Soleimani on November 19, 'I do not know what else needs to happen for some to wake up and return to the path of divine values, preserving freedom, executing justice, defending the oppressed, and opposing oppression.' Hamid Beqaei, Ahmadinejad's executive assistant, who is currently in prison, previously denied accusations of receiving millions of euros and dollars from the Quds Force and its commander Qassem Soleimani. In the text of Beqaei's appeal court ruling published on March 16, it was stated that he embezzled three million and 766 thousand euros and 590 thousand dollars from funds that the IRGC allocated for 'affairs related to African countries.' IRGC commanders claim these amounts were handed to Beqaei in cash on August 3, 2013, just one day before Hassan Rouhani's government took office, and that the payment was due to his 'position' rather than his 'personal character.' Meanwhile, this senior manager from Ahmadinejad's presidency, in his defense published in April 2018 on the 'Dolat Bahar' channel, wrote to the judiciary that although this accusation is 'baseless,' 'in the hypothetical case of this fabricated story... am I to blame or is Mr. General Qassem Soleimani as the authorized responsible figure in the Quds Force and the deliverer of the mentioned currencies?' He further questioned, 'If it is true that cash was provided by the Quds Force to me, shouldn't the Quds Force have requested performance reports from me during this time to determine whether I committed any violations or not?' Beqaei also raised the question, 'How do we know that these currencies were not spent by me in the manner that Mr. General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, intended when delivering them to me?' Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has turned to openly criticizing the structure of the Islamic Republic after pressures on senior managers from his presidency, had previously labeled the cash payment to Beqaei as a 'lie' and described the accusation against his assistant as 'political.' In his second letter, he expressed readiness to publish 'business correspondences' between himself and the commander of the Quds Force, stating that it should be clarified if any amount was paid to Beqaei, 'for what work, from which source, according to which law, which request from Beqaei, and with which receipt.' Ahmadinejad also wrote in a sarcastic tone to Qassem Soleimani, 'While it is stated in the media that you have made sacrifices to combat oppression in Syria and other areas, the question remains why you participate in the great injustice occurring in your own country under your name by your silence?' Hamid Beqaei, who has been sentenced by the Iranian judiciary to 15 years in prison and to return 43 billion tomans to the government, was sent to prison on March 13 to serve his sentence.