One Billion Toman Embezzlement by Two Employees of the Shirvan Endowment Office

Noorollah Ghodrati, the Chief Justice of North Khorasan Province, reported the embezzlement of one billion tomans by two employees of the Endowment and Charity Affairs Office in Shirvan. Shirvan is the second largest and most important city in North Khorasan Province. According to the Judiciary News Agency (Mizan), Mr. Ghodrati stated that the case is currently in the 'preliminary investigation' stage and will soon lead to an indictment. As announced by the Chief Justice, the case against these two employees was formed in early 1393 (2014) and has undergone 'multiple expert evaluations.' Ghodrati mentioned that these two employees of the Shirvan Endowment and Charity Affairs Office 'had forged several documents in collaboration with a number of real estate agents for years and sold them under the names of fictitious sellers who did not exist.' This judicial official also reported the arrest of these two Endowment employees and three related real estate agents. The causes of embezzlement in Iran's banking system are attributed to weaknesses and problems in the banking system, legal gaps, the weak performance of the judiciary, and the institutionalization of corruption within the political framework of the country. Iraj Mozaffari, the Director General of the North Khorasan Court of Audit, also identified 'weak control systems' as one of the underlying factors for financial violations and embezzlement in offices and organizations. According to ISNA, he also cited 'conflicts between professional principles and organizational goals' as another reason for financial violations. Any illegal appropriation of state or private property by government employees or those affiliated with the government is termed embezzlement. According to the law on 'increased punishment for bribery, embezzlement, and fraud,' any employee of 'offices and organizations or councils and municipalities and public institutions and companies or those affiliated with the government and revolutionary institutions and the Court of Audit and institutions that are managed with continuous government assistance and judicial officials and generally the three branches of power and also armed forces and public service officials, whether official or unofficial, who appropriates or seizes funds or claims or remittances or shares or securities or other properties belonging to any of the aforementioned organizations and institutions or individuals entrusted to them by virtue of their duties for their own benefit or that of others shall be considered an embezzler and punished.' In recent years, numerous reports have emerged regarding the discovery of large-scale embezzlements in the government organizations of the Islamic Republic, particularly in the banking system. In Shahrivar 1390 (September 2011), judicial officials reported the discovery of an embezzlement amounting to three thousand billion tomans in Iran's banking network, carried out by Mahafarid Amir-Khosravi. The media dubbed this embezzlement 'the largest embezzlement in Iran's history,' and it was revealed that seven banks were involved. Although this embezzlement was conducted and discovered through Bank Saderat Iran, banks Arya, Melli, Saman, Sepah, San'at va Ma'dan, and Parsian were also implicated. Before Mahafarid Khosravi, Fazl Khodadad, who was executed in 1995, held the record for embezzlement in Iran due to collusion with Bank Saderat employees and embezzling 123 billion tomans from this bank.