Rouhani: The Concentration of Guns, Money, and Media in One Institution Leads to Corruption

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, described the monopoly and concentration of "manifestations of power" in a single institution as a "factor" of corruption, stating that the accumulation of information, guns, and media in one entity leads to corruption. According to the state news agency IRNA, he spoke at the "National Conference on Improving Administrative Health" on Tuesday, December 8, stating: "If capital, websites, newspapers, news agencies, guns, military equipment, and other manifestations of power are concentrated in one institution, even if it is Abu Dharr and Salman, it will become corrupt." Although Mr. Rouhani did not directly name such an institution, the extensive economic and intelligence activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have drawn criticism even among figures close to the Iranian government. For instance, Ahmad Tavakoli, a conservative member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated that "military personnel have entered the market with greetings and salutations, and it is no longer possible to remove them." Ali Motahari, another member of the Assembly, recently emphasized that the IRGC has exceeded its mandate with its intelligence activities. Meanwhile, many media outlets in Iran are affiliated with the IRGC, such as the Fars and Tasnim news agencies and the Javan newspaper, which are also considered critics of Rouhani's government. However, in his speech on Tuesday, Rouhani referred to the prevalence of economic corruption in Iran, including bribery, stating that what was once called "under the table" has now become "on the table." Rouhani identified monopoly as a "factor of corruption" and stated that the greatest corruption arises from information rent, adding: "We must develop electronic government to combat administrative corruption." The President of Iran said: "The separation of powers is to control power. Even the highest authority in the country, the leader who is a just jurist, has the Constitution creating the Assembly of Experts alongside the leadership to supervise the qualities of the leadership under certain conditions." Two days before the "National Conference on Improving Administrative Health," Ali Tayebnia, the Minister of Economy of Iran, reported on December 5 the discovery of a case of financial corruption involving violations worth "12 trillion tomans," stating that the suspects in this case have been arrested. Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, a representative from Qom in the Assembly, said on Tuesday that this violation occurred in one of the provincial banks. According to the House of Representatives news agency, he added: "Based on this violation, the mentioned bank received invalid checks from a financial and credit institution and injected money into them, and that institution then filled the bank's remaining empty funds." Valiollah Seif, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, stated on Sunday that the 12 trillion toman corruption case in one of the country's banks occurred between 2006 and 2012 and was discovered last year. According to Mr. Seif, "70 billion tomans" was the largest amount that was placed in the hands of "abusers." "Under-the-table payments have turned into on-the-table payments," Rouhani continued on Tuesday, saying: "If in a country the stigma of bribery disappears, the stigma of theft and corruption disappears, one must seek refuge in God where the stigma is broken... gradually, the law becomes ridiculous, and God forbid, the verses of the Quran are mocked." He stated that in the past it was said that under-the-table payments existed, but now they have become on-the-table payments, adding: "Under-the-table means there is a stigma; if under-the-table becomes on-the-table, what should we do? Should we retreat in the face of corruption? Should we declare that we cannot?" Rouhani considered retreating against corruption as a threat to the "revolution and system" and added: "The issue of corruption from the people's perspective is as follows; either the officials know and do not stand against corruption, thus they are contaminated, and the entire revolution and system are questioned, or they do not know, or if they do know, they are incapable in the fight, then the Islamic government is an ineffective government." The head of the judiciary: I was one of the most critical of the tenth government. Sadegh Amoli Larijani, the head of the judiciary, also emphasized on Tuesday at the "National Conference on Improving Administrative Health": "We must prevent inappropriate atmospheres in the discussion of economic corruption and not allow this issue to become a political tool and instrument." He stated: "We all know we had a position against the previous government, and I was one of the most critical of the tenth government and stood by its costs." Mr. Amoli Larijani said: "Once a corrupt judge said he had a secret to tell me and wanted to negotiate, but I refused, and then he did a series of things. Even though I was critical, I say it should not be such that we say everything that happened is the previous government's fault." Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former President of Iran, has repeatedly criticized the performance of the Iranian judiciary regarding the three thousand billion toman embezzlement case and the statements of judicial officials about the role of government officials in this case. Mr. Amoli Larijani, stating that we must avoid any form of propaganda and blackening, added: "Some think that if they blacken this government, they are doing a good deed; my point is to criticize but do not blacken." The head of the judiciary considered one of the ways to combat corruption to be fighting against "blackening" and added: "Unfortunately, I said the same remarks in a meeting and saw a self-proclaimed intellectual abroad quoting me as saying not to inform; I did not say not to inform, but I announced not to blacken." Sadegh Amoli Larijani had previously stated regarding the Babak Zanjani case that he had instructed the Tehran prosecutor to pursue and prosecute the "violating" media that, according to him, "exaggerate" the corruption. The head of the judiciary also said: "In the same three thousand billion case, some bank officials were pious people, but they all condemned each other." Iranian media refer to Mahmoudreza Khavari, the former head of Bank Melli, and Mohammad Jahromi, the former head of Bank Saderat, as two "defendants" in the three thousand billion toman embezzlement case. Iranian judiciary officials have repeatedly promised to address any potential violations by Mohammad Jahromi in subsequent stages of this case. Mahmoud Reza Khavari, another "defendant" in this case, fled to Canada in the first week of October 2011 and has not returned to Iran.