Zanjani's Billion-Toman Bribe for 'Fictitious Settlement' with Oil Company

Abdolqasem Salavati, the judge in Babak Zanjani's trial, announced on Saturday, November 30, during the twelfth session of the court that the former legal advisor of the oil company received a bribe of "two billion and 500 tomans" from Zanjani for a "fictitious settlement" of his debts. According to Salavati, the oil company bought the Iran Zamin property from Zanjani in 2013 for 703 billion tomans and sold it back to him on the same day for 8 trillion tomans to settle his debts "fictitiously." Meanwhile, Babak Zanjani stated that the "IRGC Intelligence" had contacted him and instructed him to pay three billion tomans to this individual. According to the state news agency IRNA, Zanjani revealed the name of the former legal advisor as "M. N." in court, and the oil ministry's lawyer responded to the judge's remarks by stating that this individual "did not hold a position in the oil ministry and only provided legal advice." Despite the oil ministry lawyer's claims, Judge Salavati continued that the then oil minister introduced Mr. "N" as the legal advisor of the ministry in the contract with Babak Zanjani on May 15, 2013. Zanjani also mentioned that on May 15, 2013, at the request of the oil minister, a meeting was held to transfer a two billion tomans debt owed to the oil company, which could not be transferred from a Malaysian bank due to sanctions, within a year, with him guaranteeing the process, and a contract was signed with a check due on May 15, 2014. Zanjani stated that at the request of the former oil minister, he provided the Iran Zamin property as collateral for one of his checks amounting to "two billion and 66 million euros" to the ministry. He added, "The oil ministry officials said they would buy this property from me and sell it back to me, and if the check was honored, they would return it, and in the deed prepared at the notary, they sold the property to me for 8 trillion tomans." Zanjani also mentioned that after Mr. "M. N" requested five billion tomans for registering the documents of this transaction, he called the "IRGC Intelligence," who initially advised him not to pay this amount, but two days later called back and said, "You should only pay about three billion to them." He added, "I told that person I only have two billion and 500 million tomans, and he eventually agreed, and I handed over a check to him, which was honored after about two weeks." The judge also stated that in the transfer of the Iran Zamin property, the notary number 819 received "instead of 10 million tomans, eight billion and 800 million tomans" from Babak Zanjani. Zanjani also testified that he purchased the Iran Zamin property in 2008 or 2009 from the IRGC and Bank Ansar belonging to the Basij for 280 billion tomans. Morteza Turk, the deputy prosecutor of Tehran, stated on Tuesday, November 19, during the seventh court session that there was a difference of opinion among experts regarding the Iran Zamin property, with some estimating its value at 600 billion tomans and others at 1 trillion and 700 billion tomans. The re-emergence of the former oil minister's name in Babak Zanjani's trial comes as Amir Abbas Soltani, a member of parliament, accused Rostam Qasemi, the oil minister in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, of having "endorsed" him along with five other cabinet members and granted him permission to conclude an "oil contract."