Rouhani Complains About Raisi's Statements Regarding the Teachers' Fund

Following the reactions to the statements of presidential candidates during the second debate, Hassan Rouhani filed a complaint with the Presidential Election Advertising Commission against Ibrahim Raisi regarding his comments about the "plundering" of the Teachers' Savings Fund. The IRNA news agency reported on Saturday, April 16, that Hassan Rouhani lodged this complaint after the conclusion of the second presidential debate. According to the report, Rouhani's complaint pertains to Raisi's statements claiming that the Teachers' Savings Fund is being "plundered by a group of profiteers and offenders, which torments teachers who wonder why they should face economic difficulties while some are stealing their money." The Teachers' Savings Fund has over 800,000 members affiliated with the Ministry of Education and pays annual interest on the monthly deposits of teachers, with the "Sarmayeh" bank being one of its subsidiaries. Previously, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in Parliament, announced that financial irregularities in this fund occurred between 2007 and 2013 during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. According to Sadeghi, it was revealed in 2013, when the fund was handed over to Rouhani's government, that during the period from 2007 to 2013, the fund had "4 trillion tomans in uncollectible assets." The Fars news agency also reported that the campaign of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, another candidate, has filed a complaint against the debate moderator for allegedly "switching the lottery ticket." Supporters of Qalibaf released a video from the second presidential debate showing the moderator removing an envelope from a glass box during the lottery for the fourth candidate's turn to speak, then returning it to the box, mixing the remaining envelopes, and drawing another one. The statements of the presidential candidates during the second debate have prompted reactions from several ministries and institutions in Iran. The Atomic Energy Organization, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Press Deputy of the Ministry of Culture, and the Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development responded to Mustafa Mir-Salim's remarks in the second televised debate and deemed his criticisms unfounded. The Ministry of Culture also criticized Qalibaf for providing "incorrect information" regarding the role of the Tehran municipality in the construction of cultural sites. The Iranian Foreign Ministry described the opposing candidates' statements about the JCPOA and sanctions as "incorrect and one-sided claims about the JCPOA." On Saturday, the Ministry of Economy denied Raisi's quotes regarding the "lack of banking cooperation with other countries post-JCPOA." In this context, Valiollah Seif, the Central Bank Governor, also called some candidates' statements about banking issues after the Vienna nuclear agreement "unfair." He emphasized that there is no problem with financial transactions with foreign banks and that these transactions are being conducted "well." Seif identified the main problem for Iranian banks' relations with foreign banks as Iran's failure to join the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the "backwardness of Iranian banks compared to global standards." The Iranian Foreign Ministry also referred in its fifth report on the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement to "non-JCPOA challenges and obstacles" in the path of executing the agreement, including initial U.S. sanctions, non-nuclear sanctions and restrictions, FATF restrictions, and the "Iranophobia" atmosphere. The report also mentioned individuals and entities, both domestic and foreign, that "benefited from Western sanctions against Iran" as another of the "non-JCPOA challenges and obstacles." Nevertheless, Ibrahim Raisi emphasized in a statement on Saturday that "medium and large foreign banks have not established banking and financial relations with the Iranian side, and even the Foreign Ministry uses political couriers for employee salary payments, a fact confirmed by the Iranian ambassador in the UK and the South Korean ambassador in Iran." According to Raisi, based on a resolution by the Special Economic Measures Headquarters, the Foreign Ministry transfers its required funds through "barter and non-banking" means. Government officials stated that the Special Economic Measures Headquarters was created with the approval of the Supreme National Security Council and the endorsement of the Supreme Leader for the "sanction period" to make "special" decisions, and all its resolutions are "completely classified." Raisi also noted in his statement that "funds from oil sales, like before the JCPOA, are accumulated in several Asian banks, and only for oil sales to Europe, money is deposited in a small Iranian bank located in Germany, which in no case can these funds be paid to foreign customers' accounts, and the mentioned income is currently still transferred through currency exchange offices and brokers for payments to most foreign destinations, or the government is forced to import from those same countries." In the second televised debate held on Friday, May 5, Ibrahim Raisi, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, and Mustafa Mir-Salim, three candidates from the conservative faction, critiqued Rouhani's government performance over the past four years. In response, Hassan Rouhani, Eshaq Jahangiri, and Mostafa Hashemi-Taba also addressed some of these criticisms.