Verification of a List of 1500 High-Paid Managers by the Inspection Organization

The spokesperson for the judiciary announced that the General Inspection Organization of the country is in the process of verifying a list of over 1500 managers receiving 'high salaries,' and the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has sent 14 cases related to this issue to the prosecutor's office. According to Tasnim News Agency, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei stated on Sunday, December 21, in a conversation with reporters that neither the government nor the Court of Audit has sent any cases regarding salary slips to the judiciary. He added, 'We have given enough time for the government and the Court of Audit to carry out the necessary actions, as we have previously stated, if no cases are reported from the government, the prosecutor will intervene as the public prosecutor, and later there will be no room for complaints.' According to Mr. Ejei, the General Inspection Organization is currently 'verifying' the list of 1500 managers who have received 'high salaries,' and 'some from this list have been sent to the prosecutor's office, and the Tehran prosecutor is currently handling and summoning them.' He did not mention the number of cases sent to the prosecutor's office by the General Inspection Organization. Mr. Ejei's remarks about examining this list of 1500 come while the Court of Audit reported on October 3 that 397 government managers received more than 20 million tomans in salaries and benefits last year, with the total 'excess' amount paid to them being around 23 billion tomans. Meanwhile, the Tehran prosecutor recently announced that summonses have been issued in the cases of irregular salaries, and 'the Revolutionary Guard's reserve has also been summoned to the prosecutor's office'; a title previously used by the government spokesperson to describe Safdar Hosseini, the recently resigned head of the National Development Fund. The role of the IRGC's Intelligence Organization in the irregular salary cases was also highlighted by the judiciary spokesperson in his Sunday press conference, who announced that the IRGC's Intelligence Organization has 'introduced' 14 cases of government managers' salaries to the prosecutor's office, some of which overlap with the General Inspection's list. He did not provide further details, only stating that some names sent by the IRGC's Intelligence Organization were also present in the Inspection Organization's list. Mr. Ejei had also mentioned in November that some organizations had introduced individuals receiving 'astronomical salaries' to the judiciary on a case-by-case basis, adding that the IRGC's Intelligence Organization had reported 'about six cases' and the Inspection Organization 'about two cases' that 'have been referred to the inspection branch and are in the process of summoning and investigation.' In the irregular salary case, the IRGC's Intelligence Organization arrested Ali Rastgar, the former CEO of Bank Mellat, and his international deputy in July, shortly after which the IRGC commander accused Mr. Rastgar of being involved in an economic corruption case, considering the irregular salaries as one of his offenses. A few days before the arrest of this banking manager, Hossein Taeb, the head of the IRGC's Intelligence Organization, stated that this organization was 'monitoring the behind-the-scenes of economic violations' in Iran. At that time, Mr. Taeb said that the IRGC's Intelligence Organization 'will continue to intervene in the major economic corruption cases of the country as in the past' and added that the organization 'currently has serious cases on its agenda.' Meanwhile, during the discussion of irregular salaries, some IRGC commanders were also mentioned on social media as recipients of such salaries, which the IRGC spokesperson ultimately denied in early July but stated that 'for security reasons,' it is not possible to release the salary slips of the IRGC commanders.