The Series of 'Embezzlements' Continues in Iran; 17 Trillion Tomans 'Missing' in Tehran Municipality

In the ongoing saga of embezzlement and financial corruption within the institutions of the Islamic Republic, a member of the Tehran City Council stated that it is unclear where the amount of '17 trillion tomans' from the capital's municipal budget has gone. According to a video released from the city council meeting on Tuesday, December 5, Ahmad Sadeghi, the head of the 'Transparency and Smart City' committee in the Tehran City Council, announced that '17 trillion tomans' from the budget available to the municipality has 'not been spent anywhere,' asking, 'Where is this money? How have houses that have not been built been accounted for in the resources?' This city council member, whose remarks have been echoed in Iranian media, emphasized the need for 'verification in certain revenue lines,' stating that while 'last year's revenue was 80 trillion tomans,' based on the 'budget expenditure report in the transparency system,' only '49.4 trillion tomans have been spent,' and considering other expenses, it reaches '52 trillion tomans.' Accordingly, according to Ahmad Sadeghi, 'nearly 17 trillion tomans of revenue has not been spent anywhere.' This council member posed the question, 'Where is this revenue?' and stressed that 'if there are out-of-framework expenses, a report must be submitted to the council.' Sadeghi also referred to the revenues from the renovation organization project, which he said is 'calculated at a total of 20 trillion tomans,' mentioning that according to the agreements, '3.4 trillion tomans of fees from these projects have been processed,' and it is unclear 'why the projects under negotiation have not been included in the revenue list.' Some social media users, including journalists, have reacted to this city council member's statements. For instance, Maryam Shakirani, the economic editor of the Shargh newspaper, pointed out that '17 trillion tomans are missing in the Tehran municipality,' writing on the social media platform X: 'Convert these numbers to dollars; each one could fund an important infrastructure project in other countries.' She emphasized that 'the dam of Iran's development is not a lack of budget and money,' but rather 'bottomless and wide bags!' The disappearance of 17 trillion tomans in the Tehran municipality comes at a time when on Tuesday, the public prosecutor of Qom announced that 'embezzlement accompanied by forgery' in the payment of 244 marriage loans in Qom has been discovered, and an indictment has been issued against a bank manager in this regard. Additionally, it is worth noting that previous reports have frequently exposed financial corruption and embezzlement within various institutions of the Islamic Republic. The release of reports about embezzlement and financial corruption among Islamic Republic officials and their affiliates comes while numerous citizens in Iran are under pressure from the hardships of securing their livelihoods. Marzieh Mahmoudi, an economic journalist and editor of the Tejarat News website, announced on the social media platform X that a child of one of her relatives died last week 'due to cancer and lack of medicine,' emphasizing that this death and thousands of others occur while the $3.5 billion corruption in the 'Dabesh tea' case is equivalent to the total currency needed for importing medicine, medical equipment, and infant formula this year, which has not been allocated! Meanwhile, ongoing livelihood protests are taking place across Iran, and one of the central slogans in gatherings of guilds, labor groups, and retirees is 'If one embezzlement is reduced, our problem will be solved.'