Three Defendants in the Oil Rig Case Are Abroad

As the first session of the court for the famous oil rig case is held, the defense lawyer for two of the defendants announced that there are five defendants in this case, three of whom are abroad. Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, the lawyer for two of the defendants in the oil rig case, stated in an interview with ILNA news agency that the court session for this case was held on Sunday, December 24, in branch 1063 of the Economic Affairs Court in a non-public manner. According to Mr. Alizadeh Tabatabai, during this session, the prosecutor read the indictment and the representative of the marine facilities company also presented the company's complaint. The next court session is scheduled for next Sunday. Mr. Alizadeh Tabatabai mentioned that this case has five defendants, three of whom are abroad. He announced that during the preliminary investigations, a decision to discontinue the prosecution was issued for Mohsen Mohajerani, the son of Attaollah Mohajerani, the Minister of Culture in Mohammad Khatami's government, but this decision has not yet been communicated to them. Mr. Alizadeh Tabatabai did not mention the names of the defendants in this case. In this regard, the website 'Energy Today' reported that Mr. Alizadeh Tabatabai represents Mohsen Mohajerani and Reza Mostafavi Tabatabai. Some websites have referred to Reza Mostafavi Tabatabai as the 'main broker' in the purchase of this rig. Mohsen Mohajerani was arrested in December 2014 in connection with this case and was released after three weeks. After his release, he accused Masoud Mir Kazemi, the oil minister in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, of politically targeting him as the 'main agent and behind-the-scenes figure' in the Fortuna oil rig case. According to reports, Morad Shirani is also one of the defendants in this case, who was arrested in 2015. Morad Shirani and Reza Mostafavi Tabatabai were consultants for the marine facilities company. Mr. Alizadeh Tabatabai stated in an interview with the 'Energy Today' website that this case concerns the Fortuna drilling rig and the Wise dredger. According to this report, the contract amount for the Fortuna rig was $91 million and $730,000, while the contract for the Wise dredger was $16 million and $427,185. The marine facilities company, which purchased this rig, was a state-owned company at the time of the contract and is now referred to as a private company. 51% of the shares of this company are owned by the Oil Industry Pension Fund, 46% by the Police Cooperative Foundation, and the remaining 3% is 'management share'. Iranian parliament representatives stated in 2015 that the marine facilities company had purchased two rigs during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, but these rigs were never delivered to Iran. According to these representatives, the Fortuna oil drilling rig was sold to the marine facilities company of Iran, which is under the Ministry of Oil, through a Turkish company during Ahmadinejad's government, but this rig was never delivered to the Iranian side. Fars news agency reported that this oil rig was sold to Iran for $87 million through the Emirati company DEAN, but instead of going to Iran, it went directly to the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, Mr. Alizadeh Tabatabai stated that the legal office of the marine facilities company did not 'approve this contract and has stated several times that this contract has issues. Also, there was no board resolution for signing this contract at the time of the contract signing.' He announced that nevertheless, this contract was 'signed and exchanged without any changes and contrary to the company's procedures, without the approval of the legal management and financial management.' The court for the Fortuna oil rig case is being held while previously, representatives of the ninth parliament and officials of Hassan Rouhani's government had reported on the non-delivery of some other rigs purchased to Iran. Among them, Amir Abbas Soltani, a member of the Energy Committee of the ninth parliament, reported on Tuesday, September 1, 2015, about 'widespread violations' in the transaction of '25 oil rigs' and stated that he had submitted the 'files and passports' of 12 of the 'offenders' to the judiciary. Bijan Zangeneh, the oil minister, also stated on Saturday, August 12, that an individual during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency and at his 'order' had signed a contract for 30 oil rigs without conducting 'tender procedures'. He also referred to the formation of 'a detailed case regarding these rigs' to determine 'the damages and losses of this case.' However, no reports have been published regarding these cases since then.