Response from the Ministry of Intelligence to Criticism from the Judiciary; "$700 Million of Babak Zanjani's Assets Identified"

On Thursday, January 6, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence reported on "some of the actions taken" regarding the case of Babak Zanjani, the Iranian billionaire, stating: "A report on the economic activities, companies, and individuals related to him has been prepared and submitted to the judicial authorities." According to the IRNA news agency, this security ministry added that it has acted in "two aspects of prevention and operational tracking of Zanjani's financial activities and his banks abroad, identifying $700 million of their funds." The Ministry of Intelligence stated that in the preventive aspect, "interfering and disruptive factors in the handling of the case, including infiltrators inside the prison, have been identified." The Ministry did not provide details about these factors. It also mentioned that in the identification aspect, actions such as "identifying two container ships, recognizing the import of 500 vehicles from Tajikistan worth a $15 million contract, and discovering 4,000 debit cards valued at $4 million" have been carried out. "Identifying Zanjani's assets in Spain, Malaysia, and Iran, tracking Zanjani's foreign currency funds, discovering significant amounts of gold, and seizing 185 million and 650 thousand and 500 tomans in cash over the past two years, as well as identifying and announcing his domestic assets including 53 companies and 20 companies abroad in 2013 to the Tehran prosecutor's office" are among the other actions reported by the Ministry of Intelligence regarding the Babak Zanjani case. The report from the Ministry of Intelligence was released following comments by Sadegh Larijani, the head of the Iranian Judiciary, on January 3, stating that "it is implied that the Judiciary has acted independently in this case and has not utilized the help of the Ministry of Intelligence." He added: "Babak Zanjani was arrested in 2013, and in 2015, the President responded to a letter from the Minister of Intelligence suggesting that it would be good for the case to be handed over to the Ministry of Intelligence. I also referred this letter to the prosecutor a few days later and emphasized that it was a good suggestion and should be done; however, it became clear later that there were obstacles not related to the judiciary but from certain ministries and individuals." Prior to the Ministry of Intelligence's statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry also reacted to the Judiciary's criticism on Thursday, stating that based on "customary norms," it cannot intervene in Babak Zanjani's "fraudulent and underground" activities. The head of the Iranian Judiciary, on January 3, severely criticized Hassan Rouhani's remarks regarding the Babak Zanjani case, stating that tracking Zanjani's money in Malaysia, Tajikistan, and Turkey should be done by the Central Bank and the Foreign Ministry and "is not related to the Judiciary." According to ISNA news agency, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that it has "never" been asked to pursue this case and has received "no information about the content of the case." The ministry pointed out that "according to global customary practice," pursuing such cases is the responsibility of the Ministry of Intelligence, which, according to Hassan Rouhani's statements, has "not yet been independently allowed to enter this case." In recent days, relations between the government and the Judiciary have severely deteriorated, with officials from both branches making accusations against each other.