Borrower of 6500 Billion Tomans Detained

Tasnim News Agency reported on Thursday, March 11, citing an "informed source," that the borrower of "6500 billion tomans" was detained by order of the "judicial authority." According to this informed source, the detained individual transferred the majority of the financial resources related to the loan to "one of the Gulf countries" and owns several factories in Iran and that country. He added: "The facilities obtained by this individual were related to about 5 banks." Sadegh Amoli Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, mentioned on Tuesday, February 17, that in one of several major financial cases being examined, a person took a loan of 6500 billion tomans from one of the banks without any collateral being taken from him. Akbar Komijani, the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran, also stated that the banking system was aware of the payment of the "unsecured" 6500 billion tomans loan and that the name of this individual had been reported to the judiciary officials as one of the major debtors. Meanwhile, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, stated on March 2 that the loans given to this individual did not have sufficient collateral, not that they had no collateral at all. Iranian officials and news agencies have not mentioned the identity of the "6500 billion tomans borrower," but some news websites, including Saham News, close to Mehdi Karroubi, have named Mohammad Rostami Safa, the head of the Safa Industrial Group and CEO of Saveh Profile Pipe Company, as the individual in question. According to Mr. Ejei, the amount of loans given to this individual is not "6500 billion tomans" but has increased due to delays in repayment. Previously, on March 2, the Fars news agency reported, citing an "informed source," that "M.R," the owner of the profile manufacturing industrial group named "S," is "4000 billion tomans in debt to a private bank and has significant debts to two state banks as well." According to this "informed source," this individual attributed part of his debt to the non-receipt of payments from some contracting companies. In another report, Fars news agency stated that "M.R" has 16 subsidiaries, a university, and 5000 employees. According to this news agency, the public relations of his company did not confirm or deny this accusation and stated that if the matter is true, the company's assets would cover the debts. The name of Mr. Rostami Safa had previously come up in 2006 after he purchased part of the shares of Parsian Bank. Ultimately, however, the purchase of Parsian Bank shares was canceled, and the head of the Stock Exchange stated that the reason for this cancellation was the late arrival of the guarantee letter. That year, media outlets close to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that Mr. Rostami Safa was one of the major debtors of Parsian Bank, who wanted to use a loan from this bank to spend nearly 300 billion tomans of the bank's own funds to purchase the bank. After discussions regarding the transfer of Parsian Bank shares, the Central Bank revoked Abdullah Talebi's qualifications as CEO of Parsian Bank and dismissed him. A few years later, Mr. Talebi stated in an interview with the "Donya-e-Eqtesad" newspaper that the Administrative Justice Court deemed the Central Bank's action to form a general assembly for electing the board of directors illegal, and the General Inspection Organization also declared the cancellation of the Iran Khodro shares transaction in Parsian Bank as illegal. Recently, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Ahmadinejad's first vice president, has been sent to Evin Prison for acquiring illicit wealth, and Babak Zanjani, a businessman and oil dealer, has been in prison for over a year, with proceedings regarding his offenses ongoing.