Tavakoli Threatens to Reveal Names of Loan Recipients from 'Samen al-Hojaj'

Ahmad Tavakoli, a representative of the ninth parliament, threatened to disclose the names of individuals who received loans from the bankrupt financial institution 'Samen al-Hojaj', stating that most of these individuals are experienced judges and children of prominent clerics and political figures. According to the website Alef, on Tuesday, December 7, Tavakoli urged those who received loans from the 'Samen al-Hojaj' credit institution to repay them. He warned that if these loans are not repaid, he would publish a list of these individuals. Tavakoli mentioned that this list includes some 'experienced judges and children of some scholars and political figures.' He also stated that 'the CEO of the Samen al-Hojaj financial institution has significant influence and even obtained an arrest warrant for Mr. Bahmani, the former head of the Central Bank.' He added, 'Corrupt individuals are recruiting in the institutions and replicating individuals like themselves.' The Samen al-Hojaj financial institution began its activities in 2001 under the name 'Samen al-Hojaj Cooperative of Graduates.' According to ISNA news agency, this institution went bankrupt due to investments in the housing market and the recession in this market. Abolfazl Mirali, the CEO of this institution, has a history of membership on the board of directors of the 'Lisar Mah' oil, gas, and petrochemical company, which has had former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Mohammad Hassan Khamenei, the brother of the Supreme Leader, as board members. Some conservatives had previously accused Hassan Rouhani's campaign in the presidential election of receiving money from this institution. After going bankrupt, the institution was transferred to Parsian Bank, which announced that deposit holders with amounts up to 100 million tomans could withdraw up to 35 million tomans from their deposits, and the remaining amounts would be paid within a year. Parsian Bank also stated that deposits of 200 million tomans and more would be paid in later stages. On Tuesday, Tavakoli also said that this institution had committed 'the most violations' since 2007 and while it 'did not allow Central Bank inspectors in,' it received a 'letter of encouragement' from Mahmoud Bahmani, the head of the Central Bank during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. He also claimed that the CEO of this institution was 'confined at home under guard' when he should have been imprisoned. Tavakoli accused the Central Bank of delaying the dissolution of this financial institution and stated that the group assigned to determine the status of this institution in paying depositors' money is 'negligent.' A significant number of financial institutions in Iran have failed to meet their obligations to investors following bankruptcy or embezzlement, leading to protests from the victims in various parts of the country. Credit cooperatives, interest-free loan funds, and unauthorized financial institutions are a problem that has arisen due to the excessive issuance of operating licenses for such institutions by the Ministry of Cooperatives and the police, especially during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. Iranian Central Bank officials had previously stated that 2017 would be the year marking the end of operations for unauthorized financial institutions and cooperatives. Earlier, the Research Center of the Parliament described the state of Iran's banking system as 'crisis' and warned about the 'risk of bankruptcy' of banks. According to this center, out of 7,333 financial institutions in Iran, only 1,000 have licenses, and between 1972 and 2011, the volume of banking activities by non-bank financial institutions has nearly tripled. The Research Center of the Parliament also reported that six 'unauthorized' credit institutions have approximately 133 trillion tomans, which is about six percent of the total assets of both authorized and unauthorized banking systems.