Marjan Sheikh Al-Islami's Response to Allegations Against Her

Marjan Sheikh Al-Islami Al Agha, the sixth accused in the Iranian petrochemical case, sent a note to the editorial office of Radio Farda, rejecting the allegations against her in court, including financial corruption, money laundering, and disruption of the economic system. Sheikh Al-Islami described her companies' activities in Iran and Turkey as 'legal' and emphasized that these activities 'have nothing to do with money laundering or earning income from sanctions.' In her response, she stated: 'There are no claims or debts alleged by judicial authorities, and full settlements have been made with contracting parties. Furthermore, there has been no benefit from currency exchange differences or delays in payments.' Marjan Sheikh Al-Islami also denied the accusation of 'selling petrochemical products and receiving illegal commissions,' stating: 'I must clarify that I have never engaged in the buying and selling of these products and therefore have not received any commissions.' Sheikh Al-Islami's response comes less than a week after the Tehran prosecutor announced that part of this case remains 'open,' which is 'heavy' and related to 'fugitive' defendants, including Marjan Sheikh Al-Islami. The text of this note is presented without alteration. Given the numerous reports about the petrochemical case currently underway in a special court in Tehran and the mention of my name, Marjan Sheikh Al-Islami Al Agha, as the sixth accused, and considering the heavy media atmosphere against me, which has been accompanied by many rumors, I would like to inform the public about some points regarding my legal and professional status. I have legally immigrated to Canada for about 8 years and have had no cases in Iran that I am being pursued for, as I have traveled to Iran several times after my immigration. Before immigrating, I established an independent Marjani news agency in the field of culture and art in Iran, which has been somewhat successful, training many journalists, and since then I have mainly engaged in business activities in the field of exports and imports. Since I have settled abroad with my family, I have never engaged in political activities, written a line of notes, or given interviews, and therefore I declare to the respected media that, according to their political beliefs, try to associate me with a group or faction, that I do not belong to any group, whether opposition, principlist, reformist, monarchist, overthrowist, or others. Until 2014, equivalent to 1393 in the Iranian calendar, I was legally appointed as the CEO by the board of directors of the Hetra and Deniz companies in Iran and Turkey, and these two companies operated in several commercial fields, including purchasing and obtaining representation for industrial equipment, and operated within the framework of national and international laws. The accusation against me in the sixth row of the petrochemical case as the CEO of these two companies has no basis. The activities of these companies have been completely legal and have nothing to do with money laundering or earning income from sanctions. I do not understand the atmosphere of blackmail and falsehood spread by Persian-language media in this regard and I am very sorry for the use of media labels and lies and the use of my family and personal images without my permission. Based on Mr. Hamzelou's defense in court, which has been published in the media, I categorically deny the accusation of disrupting the economic system, and regarding the approximately 7 million euros or 31 billion tomans related to the accusation of benefiting from currency exchange differences (which some have added this amount to its dollar equivalent), I have learned about it through media reports, and based on the existing documents from these companies at the Central Bank, I do not accept such an accusation and I emphatically request a specialized examination of financial documents. At the same time, I emphasize that there are no claims or debts alleged by judicial authorities, and full settlements have been made with contracting parties. Furthermore, there has been no benefit from currency exchange differences or delays in payments. I am unaware of what operations or activities other companies related to this case have conducted in transferring funds and their buying and selling within the framework of their commercial contracts. If there have been cases where individuals have not paid the deposited funds to the Central Bank on time and a similar suspicion has arisen regarding the deposits from the Deniz and Hetra companies, I must say that this is certainly not true. Regarding another suspicion arising from the activities of others concerning the sale of petrochemical products and receiving illegal commissions, I must clarify that I have never engaged in the buying and selling of these products and therefore have not received any commissions. All financial transactions and receipts and payments have been conducted according to national and international banking laws, and their documents are available. I have also not introduced a lawyer in the current court proceedings regarding the petrochemical trade case, and I have not received any summons before the court, nor have I sent any documents, evidence, or defense. The honorable judge's reference to having a lawyer presumably refers to the introduction of a court-appointed lawyer. I expect the court to order a thorough and expert examination of all banking documents and receipts and payments of the companies under my management to clarify that no funds from income attributed to economic disruption have been deposited into my personal account or that of my relatives. Regarding the claim of several properties belonging to me in the media (although the relevance of these incorrect addresses to the current case is not understandable), I only mention that it can be proven that, except for two cases, the rest have been rented by me in different years, and the two cases that belong to me have more than two-thirds of the total amount as bank loans, one of which has been put up for sale by the bank due to a delay of one and a half years in payment for six months. Moreover, the Canadian government is well aware of its work in reviewing and complying with banking financial laws, including money laundering and related matters, and there is no need to provide incorrect addresses unless the goal is to disturb the public mind and endanger the social security of me and my family. Therefore, in all my movable and immovable purchases, the alleged incomes have no role and have never had one. I must clearly state that there is nothing in my work and activities that I wish to hide, nor do I wish to use other defendants in the case as a shield. All these insulting and directly and indirectly destructive accusations against my personal and professional credibility, which have been made by individuals with various motives and media such as Radio Farda, Manoto TV, IranWire website, the petition of the Iranian Canadians Congress, and media inside Iran, etc., and are sometimes accompanied by labels such as the 6 billion euro embezzler, have caused me and my children to lose peace and security in a court case that is still open and has not yet addressed my accusations, and I will definitely pursue legal action. In conclusion, given that judicial authorities have explicitly stated that this case has not been examined, I reiterate the necessity of expert review and auditing of the accounts of the companies under my management and clarifying the subject under discussion, as without specialized and impartial examinations, no logical and fair result can be expected in the judicial process.