Corruption in Ahvaz Municipality: Four Employees and a Manager Arrested

The head of the Ahvaz City Council expressed concern over the involvement of the country's security agencies in the arrest of several municipal managers in the city. Two other members of the council stated that these arrests should not have been made public until the 'accusations' were proven. According to a report on Tuesday, March 6, in Mehr News Agency, Houshang Shirmardi, the head of the council, said in a public session that security agencies are among the 'most informed' bodies, and their involvement in the municipality's case has made him 'worried.' Shirmardi added that he had previously asked the mayor of Ahvaz to 'replace' those managers who were under suspicion, and if this 'warning' had been heeded, 'we would not have witnessed these arrests.' He further stated that 'now we must apologize to the people, as the issues are much more serious than this. If these issues are true, I personally ask the mayor to resign.' Kazem Savari, a member of the Ahvaz City Council, said that this session should have been held 'in private' and that information regarding these arrests should not have been shared on 'WhatsApp' and 'Telegram.' According to Savari, 'neither an accusation has been proven nor have the security-judicial bodies released information that can be disclosed.' He also threatened that if this approach to dealing with the arrested managers continues, 'I will also be forced to make many issues public and reveal the behind-the-scenes.' Another council member, Hossein Heydari, said that 'unfortunate events have occurred, damaging the reputation of the municipality and the city council.' Heydari added that 'while it is true that the people are trustworthy, it does not mean that every confidential matter should be disclosed to the public.' On March 1, several media outlets reported the arrest of five employees of the Ahvaz municipality, including some senior managers. Mehr News Agency identified the Ministry of Intelligence as the authority behind the arrests, citing 'corruption' as the charge against these individuals. The agency noted that 'for a long time, the violations committed by these individuals had been pointed out to the Ahvaz municipality by various bodies.' 'Financial and employment issues' were mentioned as part of the 'violations' committed by these individuals. IRNA also identified the arrested individuals as one of the mayors of Ahvaz regions and three of his deputies, and reported the 'possibility of further arrests related to this case.' The agency added that judicial and inspection officials had previously warned about 'financial violations' in the municipalities of Khuzestan province. A new wave of arrests of some employees and managers of municipalities in Khuzestan province began last week with the arrest of a mayor and several employees from one of the municipalities in the province, culminating in the arrest of four managers from the Ahvaz municipality. In June of this year, a fraud case in the Ahvaz municipality was uncovered, and its perpetrators were arrested. On March 1, Houshang Shirmardi, the head of the Ahvaz City Council, mentioned that 'we had issued 53 written warnings to the municipality regarding the inefficient managers who were arrested.' Shirmardi identified the arrested individuals as the mayor of Region 2, the administrative affairs manager of the Ahvaz municipality, the CEO of the waste management organization, and a personnel employee. According to some surveys, banks, courts, and municipalities are recognized as the 'most corrupt' institutions in the Islamic Republic by the Iranian people. For instance, 63% of participants in a survey conducted by the iPaz Institute, the results of which were published last year, stated that they consider the municipality to be the foremost institution of corruption in Iran. Municipalities in Iran have a close relationship with city and village councils, and in recent years, numerous reports have emerged regarding the arrests of council members in various parts of the country.