Public Oversight on Management of Public Assets Should Be Enabled

The government-affiliated newspaper Iran reported on President Hassan Rouhani's directive for "decisive action against the unreasonable salaries of executive managers." The Islamic Republic's president emphasized to his first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, that "all instances of misconduct and abuse should be identified as soon as possible, unjustly paid funds should be returned to the public treasury, and offending managers should be dismissed." Mohammad Nahavandian, head of the President's office, also wrote in an editorial in Iran newspaper titled "A Decree Not Just for Government Officials" that "the implementation of this decree should not be limited to state-owned companies," but rather "this decree should extend to all companies that manage public assets under the guise of private ownership, and it should enable oversight by the public, workers, and shareholders over the management of their assets." The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, described Rouhani's directive as a "sudden decision after three years regarding astronomical salaries," stating that "Hassan Rouhani rode the wave of astronomical salaries." Hadi Gholamhosseini emphasized in a report in Javan that "the increase and composition of the current expenses of the eleventh government negates the excuse of ignorance regarding astronomical salaries, and the president's directive for the return of astronomical salaries and the dismissal of offenders is the government's surfing on the wave of public opinion." Javan also wrote that "the Vice Presidency for Planning and other ministers were well aware of the amounts paid to state managers and affiliated institutions." The newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz published a photo of the CEO of Bank Refah Kargaran, asking whether "Ali Sedghi and his partners will be dismissed?" This newspaper, close to the Steadfast Front, noted that "Ali Sedghi's pay slip was published in the media, which showed that he received 180 and 230 million tomans in salary and bonuses in October and Esfand 1394, respectively." It also stated that "according to existing information and records, Ali Sedghi, along with Hossein Fereydoun, established a currency exchange in Bahman 1390, known as 'Sedghi and Partners Currency Exchange,' but a year and four months after the establishment of this exchange, the eleventh government came to power; luck favored Sedghi's exchange, as one of its partners became the president's brother." Vatan-e-Emruz wrote that "thus, Hossein Fereydoun took the title of senior assistant to the president, and Ali Sedghi, the head of that exchange, was able to become the CEO of Bank Refah Kargaran." However, now that "almost a year has passed since Sedghi's appointment as CEO of Bank Refah, he has received at least two instances of unreasonable salaries, totaling 410 million tomans just in October and Esfand 1394, while the average income of the middle class is between one to two million tomans monthly, and to obtain loans of 5 and 10 million tomans, they must navigate through multiple bureaucratic hurdles." This newspaper called for the dismissal of Ali Sedghi from the CEO position of Bank Refah Kargaran and Hossein Fereydoun from the president's assistantship, stating that "now it is expected that decisive action against misconduct should equally include all offending managers. Only then can the government prove that the president's directive goes beyond a symbolic act and political maneuver, and the dismissal of the CEO of Bank Refah and, of course, action against those who empowered him and brought him to prominence will somewhat alleviate the wounded feelings of society." The newspaper Shargh reported on the "sealed secrets" of the investigation into the Martyrs Foundation in the ninth parliament, stating that "the sealed report of the investigation into the Martyrs Foundation, which after two years of efforts by the research team ultimately remained behind the walls of the ninth parliament and did not reach the public session, continues to create controversy." Mehdi Ghadimi, in a report for Shargh, noted that "Masoud Zaribafan, the head of the Martyrs Foundation during Ahmadinejad's presidency, who once clashed with Gholamali Jafarzadeh-Imen Abadi from the research team and even took the matter to court, has now approached Amir Khajasteh, the head of the research team, and in an interview published by the news site Entekhab on Saturday, he stated: unfortunately or fortunately, the report's authors could not gain the committee's approval; in other words, this report did not receive the approval of the investigative committee. However, the head of the investigative committee bypassed that committee and sent the file to the commission. The commission also discussed it in two sessions, but they could not convince the commission, meaning the commission did not approve it, and in other words, the investigation was rejected and had no significant content." Masoud Zaribafan also stated: "I tell you, if I used even a grain of sugar from the foundation, let it be revealed. Because the gentlemen have nothing from the foundation, they say it is for an economic enterprise, and the economic enterprise was never for my time. It was all before. We also took action. They have cases; let them go to court." However, Shargh reminded that Gholamali Jafarzadeh, one of the members of the investigative committee regarding the Martyrs Foundation in the ninth parliament, had stated: "The volume of financial corruption in the Martyrs Foundation during the previous government is so large that we fear if we expose it, the people will be shocked, as very bitter events have occurred in this institution, all stemming from delusion and mismanagement." Amir Khajasteh, the head of the investigative committee regarding the Martyrs Foundation in the ninth parliament, also addressed the Speaker of the Parliament, stating: "Mr. Larijani, I will give you the documentation of the investigation report on the Martyrs Foundation, and you can act as you see fit. We have done our duty, but pressures prevented the reading of this report in the parliament." One of the members of the investigative committee regarding the Martyrs Foundation, in an interview with Tuesday's edition of Shargh, mentioned multiple instances of corruption in the Martyrs Foundation and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, including instances of corruption in "Bank Dey, Kowsar Organization, and forgery of disability percentages" and the role of this foundation in "sugar imports." The newspaper Hamdeli published a caricature of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and one of his close mourners, in a report titled "The Day Ahmadinejad Said 'Debris and Chaff'," stating that "two days after the June 22, 2009 elections, while both three rival candidates and some of their supporters protested the announced results, and gatherings were held in some streets of Tehran, suddenly Ahmadinejad and his supporters held a celebration titled 'Thanksgiving for Victory' in Vali Asr Square in Tehran. This newspaper noted that Ahmadinejad, during that ceremony, made statements that many analysts and political activists later described as a spark in the powder keg of the protesters, stating that on June 24, 2009, in Vali Asr Square, while some famous mourners were standing beside him, and he had also draped a green shawl, which was considered a color symbol of the rival supporters, about the "protesters against the election results," he said: "In the election, 40 million people were the main players and decision-makers; now 4 'debris and chaff' are doing something in these corners." According to Hamdeli, these remarks by Ahmadinejad "were believed by many to be a spark in the powder keg of the agitated society after the election, especially since one of the largest protest gatherings took place one day after these remarks on June 25." The newspaper Hamdeli, without naming Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, wrote: "Seven years after that controversial day and the tumultuous days that followed, two reformist rivals are under house arrest, while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mohsen Rezaei – who once again participated in the elections afterward and lost – are expressing their opinions in the political arena and are candidates for re-election." However, "some political activists, including Ali Motahari, who is now the deputy speaker of the tenth parliament, believe that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also one of the lawbreakers of those days and should be tried." The newspaper Shargh also highlighted the remarks of Javad Karimi Qodosi, a representative from Mashhad in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, regarding the number of journalists and analysts arrested after 2009, stating that this representative close to the Steadfast Front said: "600 journalists, article writers, and generally infiltrators were arrested, but "with the arrest of these individuals, the plot has not been dismantled, as there are still remnants of them." According to Shargh, Javad Karimi Qodosi also stated: "Some power-hungry and wealth-seeking individuals, relying on these unprincipled media, constantly pour gasoline on the fire of the plot, and I think during this period, to counter the enemy's infiltration, the parliament's presiding board should prevent the entry of these media into the parliament based on national interests and benefits." The anniversary of Hassan Rouhani's victory in the June 24, 2013 elections was also highlighted in Saturday's edition of Iran newspapers. The newspaper Etemad dedicated its front page photo and headline to "1100 Days After Victory" of Hassan Rouhani, quoting Sadegh Zibakalam as stating that Hassan Rouhani inherited a country in conditions where the only words to describe them are "undesirable" and "unfavorable," but "Rouhani's government has been very successful in untying the nuclear knot and saving the country from a comprehensive crisis stemming from this issue." However, this newspaper also pointed out the unfulfilled promise of lifting house arrests, stating that "the day Hassan Rouhani held his press conference as the elected president at the Strategic Research Center of the Presidency, one issue more than others occupied the minds of his supporters, even more than nuclear issues, which it was clear that Hassan Rouhani would make a fundamental change in. There, the issue of lifting house arrests was mentioned twice, and after that, this issue was raised many times," but "Rouhani has never spoken clearly about lifting house arrests and has never hidden his desire to resolve this issue, but in the meantime, the more important issue is whether he has actually taken any steps regarding this matter?" Etemad noted that Hassan Rouhani once said in Shiraz regarding the issue of house arrests: "There are some issues that the government cannot address alone, but the government can prepare the grounds for it," stating that "perhaps this answer is justifiable for some politicians, but there are parts of the supporters of the eleventh government in various segments of society who cannot be satisfied with these answers," and now in the last year of the eleventh government, the issue of lifting house arrests remains an unresolved demand for Rouhani, just like in June 2013. The newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz, in a note titled "June 24, All Dissatisfied," wrote: "June 24, 2013, can be considered a real example of the right rising from the left side, the positioning of the traditional right movement, which as a professional political movement has never had the political advantages of a bottom-up action, and had never been able to win in a large competitive election like the presidential election until 2013, in the position of opposition and changer of the existing situation was one of the miracles that could only be achieved with a dangerous reformist push from behind during the 2009 plot and the political incompetence of the principlist movement." Mohammad Zaeemzadeh wrote in this newspaper's note: "Now, about 1100 days have passed since Hassan Rouhani's election as President of Iran, and it seems that the most important concern of Rouhani's government after three years is the loss of this relative advantage, the change of position from opposition to position, is the central issue of the government in organizing its socio-political position these days." The newspaper Shargh described the attack on a gay club in Orlando as "the deadliest terrorist incident in America" after September 11, stating that in this attack "50 were killed and 53 were injured." However, the newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, published the news of the attack with the headline "ISIS's Dagger at the Time of Reconciliation," stating that "just as American leaders exonerated the Saudi family from the accusations of September 11 due to a hidden reconciliation after financial and political threats from the House of Saud, ISIS terrorists, who are considered the intellectual and financial offspring of the Saudi family and America, stabbed their creators in the back, killing 50 people in a terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida." Gholamreza Misbahian, spokesman for the Society of Clergy, a group close to the principlists, in an interview with the newspaper Arman, hinted at the "probability of silence" of this group in the 2016 presidential elections and regarding the defeat of the principlists in the parliamentary elections stated: "We did not expect the reformist leader to be influential." In this context, "Child Labor: Small Victims of Poverty," "Battle Against Astronomical Salaries," "Persepolis at Risk of Leaving the World Heritage List," and "Kayhan's Attack on Shajarian with Photos of Behrouz and Googoosh" were also discussed.