Zanjani's Lawyer: Final Decision on My Client's Case Depends on Interrogation of 'Ziba Halat'

Iranian law enforcement and judicial authorities have reported the arrest of Alireza Ziba Halat Monfared, one of the 'main agents' in the Babak Zanjani case abroad, and his return to the country. Mr. Zanjani's lawyer states that a definitive decision regarding his client is contingent upon a complete interrogation of the arrested individual. Meanwhile, a website in Dominica reported that Mr. Ziba Halat Monfared had received a Dominican diplomatic passport through connections with the former Prime Minister of that country. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the head of Interpol of the Iranian police announced on Sunday, January 26, that 'one of the main agents in the large oil corruption case' had been tracked and identified in a Central American country and arrested with the cooperation of the police there. Masoud Rezvani stated that this individual had been 'identified and arrested' in Malaysia but had 'fled due to collusion.' He reported that the arrested person was handed over to the Iranian judiciary on Saturday morning. Iranian media have identified this individual as Alireza Ziba Halat Monfared, and Babak Zanjani's lawyer has also stated that he is 'one of the main and related agents' in his client's case. Rasoul Kouhpayehzadeh emphasized that the interrogation of Mr. Ziba Halat Monfared 'could clarify many issues' and that a definitive decision regarding Babak Zanjani is 'contingent' upon a complete interrogation of him. According to Mr. Kouhpayehzadeh, Babak Zanjani did not personally play a role in the operational execution of oil buying and selling, as much of the work was done via phone and email, but this individual played a crucial role in the operational execution of oil buying and selling. Babak Zanjani's lawyer stressed that the arrest of Mr. Ziba Halat Monfared could help clarify some ambiguities in this case, including that one of the oil purchasing companies from Mr. Zanjani had claimed that 'there was water in part of the delivered oil' and had refused to pay its debt. Iranian judicial authorities have not provided details about Alireza Ziba Halat Monfared's role in the Babak Zanjani case, but some Iranian media have referred to him as the authorized signatory of Bank 'Arzesh,' one of the banks owned by Babak Zanjani. For instance, the newspaper Shargh, on November 25, 2014, reported on the connection between the assassination of 'Hosseini Kangani Nejad,' known as 'Hosseini Nejadi,' the founder of the Malaysian bank 'AmBank or Arab-Malaysia Bank,' and the Babak Zanjani case, mentioning Alireza Ziba Halat Monfared. Pascal Nejadi, the son of Hassan Nejadi, sent the contract for the sale of Bank 'Arzesh' to this newspaper, which indicated that four million US dollars had been paid to the Indonesian trading bank for the purchase of the Bank 'Arzesh' license. According to this report, Alireza Ziba Halat Monfared was designated in this contract as the 'authorized signatory in all legal and legal stages on behalf of Bank Arzesh.' The Shargh newspaper reported on September 18, 2014, that Hosseini Kangani Nejad, known as Hosseini Nejadi, was murdered on July 29, 2013, in a parking lot in Kuala Lumpur. This newspaper's report was later supplemented by statements from Ali Shams Ardekani, the head of the Energy Commission of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, who stated that Mr. Nejadi owned 'a single-window bank' and 'as soon as the issues of Babak Zanjani were revealed, he was found murdered in a mysterious incident in the parking lot of his residential complex in Kuala Lumpur.' Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, Iran's Minister of Oil, has accused Babak Zanjani of receiving 2.7 billion dollars in collaboration with several ministers and the head of the Central Bank in the previous government, depositing it into his 'fake bank account' in Malaysia, which ultimately 'disappeared.' The Mizan news agency, the official news agency of the judiciary, also reported that during the twentieth session of Babak Zanjani's trial, when the issue of paying 50 million dollars in storage costs related to the oil shipments delivered to Mr. Zanjani was raised, the name of Mr. Ziba Halat Monfared was mentioned. Iranian judicial authorities did not specify the location of Mr. Ziba Halat Monfared's arrest. However, a website in Dominica reported that he held a diplomatic passport from that country. Dominica is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. According to DominicanNet, Alireza Ziba Halat Monfared had established a commercial center in that country. This report speculated that this political passport may have been granted to Mr. Ziba Halat Monfared with the assistance of Roosevelt Skerrit, the former Prime Minister of Dominica. According to this website, this passport was issued on March 13, 2015, and ten days later, Mr. Skerrit attended a party hosted by Alireza Ziba Halat Monfared during a visit to Malaysia. This new suspect in the Babak Zanjani case was arrested while judicial and government officials had recently made accusations against each other regarding this case. Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, on Tuesday, January 3, raised the accusation that Babak Zanjani had assisted Hassan Rouhani's campaign in the 2013 elections, accusing the Foreign Ministry, the Central Bank, and the Ministry of Oil of failing to take necessary actions to recover Mr. Zanjani's assets abroad. These remarks by Sadegh Larijani were a response to comments made by Hassan Rouhani, who on January 8 stated that he had requested the judiciary to hand over the Babak Zanjani case to the Ministry of Intelligence, but this request had not been executed. He also noted that the public's questions regarding this case remain unanswered. Following Sadegh Larijani's remarks, Hassan Rouhani's Twitter account called for transparency in the judiciary's accounts, while Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson and first deputy of the judiciary, demanded the disclosure of the expenses of Mr. Rouhani's campaign in 2013. The Foreign, Intelligence, and Oil Ministries, as well as the Central Bank, also issued statements denying the accusations made by the head of the judiciary and stated that they had adequately carried out the actions requested of them in this case, and the judiciary had previously praised them. In the indictment, Babak Zanjani is accused of having paid '160 million euros' out of the 2.7 billion euros he was obliged to pay to the oil company, spending the remainder on personal matters.