Mortazavi Not Acquitted in Social Security Companies Sale Case

The legal director of the Social Security Organization rejected claims by Saeed Mortazavi, the former CEO of the organization, regarding his acquittal from charges in the case of selling Social Security companies to Babak Zanjani, announcing the issuance of an indictment and a criminal charge against Mr. Mortazavi. According to the state news agency IRNA, Omran Naeimi stated on Sunday, December 29, that 'despite Saeed Mortazavi's claims, an indictment and criminal charge have been issued against him, and the matter is currently being reviewed in Branch 1057 of the Criminal Court 2 of the Government Employees Judicial Complex.' Mr. Naeimi noted that due to the non-public nature of the proceedings, it is not possible to disclose 'the titles of the charges and details of the case.' On Saturday, Saeed Mortazavi claimed that the prosecutor in the case regarding the sale of Social Security Organization companies to Babak Zanjani had issued a 'non-prosecution order' for him, which was finalized and confirmed by the Tehran prosecutor. In a report from the investigation into the Social Security Organization in December 2013, Babak Zanjani was accused of purchasing part of the factories of the Social Security Investment Company (Shasta), valued at over 50 trillion tomans, for one-third of the price, paying only 17 trillion tomans via a guaranteed check. The Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, had previously reported that it possesses a document indicating that Saeed Mortazavi ordered the transfer of 138 companies of this organization to Babak Zanjani and issued five 'guaranteed' checks amounting to 442 billion Japanese yen, equivalent to four million euros. Mr. Mortazavi has denied these accusations, stating that he only signed a memorandum of understanding with Babak Zanjani for the transfer of these companies and that 'no company' was transferred to him.