Ramazani: Rouhani Should Form a National Looting Truth Commission

Abdollah Ramazani, a senior member of the Participation Front and spokesperson for Mohammad Khatami's government, called for President Rouhani to establish a truth commission on "national looting" in Iran during an interview with the newspaper "Arman," published on Sunday, April 22. Ramazani stated that "currently, the struggle is between the rent-seeking forces benefiting from sanctions and Rouhani's government, which sees its interests threatened by the JCPOA." He added that "removing these individuals from the political scene is much harder than dealing with intellectual and political forces. They have become accustomed to this method, making it very difficult to confront them." He continued, "In my opinion, the most important concern for Mr. Rouhani should be combating rent-seeking and illicit gains. Mr. Rouhani must seriously form a national looting truth commission so that the people can quickly know the fate of those who have profited from the sanctions." Ramazani emphasized that "in the fight against rent-seeking and economic corruption remnants from the previous government, not all cabinet members have supported Mr. Rouhani. In this regard, Mr. Rouhani and his first deputy, Mr. Jahangiri, are left alone. I believe other cabinet members should seriously engage with these issues and support Mr. Rouhani and his first deputy." The term "national looting," frequently mentioned by Ramazani and many critics of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's eight-year government, refers to the extensive "embezzlement," "financial corruption," and "misappropriation of public assets" by the officials of that government and their close associates, some of which have been revealed. Addressing these embezzlements and "economic corruption" has always faced challenges during Hassan Rouhani's presidency. For instance, Amir Khajasteh, head of the investigation committee into the Martyrs Foundation, recently reported repeated "threats" from "behind-the-scenes hands in the parliament." Iranian media have previously reported on the "discovery of a 15 billion toman embezzlement in the Martyrs Foundation," "170 billion toman transfers in the Martyrs Foundation accounts and the exit of these resources from the country," and "importing luxury cars with disability cards." In response, Masoud Zaribafan, head of the Martyrs Foundation during Ahmadinejad's government, stated that Mr. Khajasteh, who was a manager at the Martyrs Foundation in Hamadan province, was dismissed for using state facilities for "parliamentary election propaganda" and is politically motivated in his investigation of this foundation. Ramazani further explained in the interview why he uses the term "national looting," saying, "I cannot choose another name for this issue. Some of these individuals have pocketed money that no one could have accessed in 200 years. Therefore, the name for these actions is looting." He added, "Terms like embezzlement, money laundering, and rent-seeking are used for small and medium economic corruption. Meanwhile, many of the revealed corruptions involve billions of dollars. In my opinion, Mr. Rouhani has not yet published important documents in this regard." The senior member of the Participation Front continued, "The government should form a truth commission to clarify how the legendary income of about 800 billion from oil sales has been spent and what fate it has encountered." In further remarks about "administrative corruption" in the ninth and tenth governments, Ahmad Tavakoli, a principlist member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also referred on Sunday to the previous government's repeated withdrawals from the National Development Fund during the review of the national budget bill in the parliament. According to the Tuesday report from the newspaper Shargh, Ahmad Tavakoli said, "At one time, 150 trillion tomans were borrowed from the National Development Fund for purchasing medicine, but only 45 trillion tomans were repaid, while the rest was spent on buying buildings, lending to some government agencies, and some was used for employee welfare." Tavakoli further stated that "Ahmadinejad bypassed the Money and Credit Council and reached into the Central Bank's pockets, spending the money in the free market." He also noted that "in the final days of the previous government, the Supreme National Security Council had a resolution allocating 2.5 billion dollars for importing medicine and fertilizer, but the Green Jihad Company used it to purchase two buildings in Tehran, while it was supposed to be paid within six months."