Death sentence sought for Zanjani in Iran’s biggest corruption case

In the indictment, the Tehran Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is seeking death sentences for Zanjani along with his partners Mahdi Shams and Hamid Falah Herevi, who are accused of embezzling $2.7 billion from Iran's state-owned petroleum company.

Zanjani, a wealthy businessman with reportedly $14 billion in assets, is known for helping the Iranian government evade the Western sanctions that were imposed on the country over its disputed nuclear program. Zanjani is believed to have sold Iranian oil internationally and transferred the oil-related money back to Iran on behalf of the government.

Amir Abbas Soltani, a member of the special parliamentary committee investigating Zanjani's case, had previously asserted that a significant portion of Zanjani's illegal money was in Turkey and was managed by his alleged partner Reza Zarrab, the prime suspect in a graft probe in Turkey that went public on Dec. 17, 2013.

During the period when Parliament in Turkey, the majority of which at the time comprised members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), was trying to exonerate Zarrab and the four ministers who were implicated in the Dec. 17 graft probe, Iran on the other hand was establishing four different parliamentary commissions to investigate the Zanjani case.

In a similar coincident last week, while the first hearing into Iran's largest corruption case started on Saturday, a pro-government prosecutor in Turkey completed his indictment against the prosecutors and police officers who had been investigating the corruption scandal before the probe was shut down by the government. These people are now accused of staging a coup d'état against the AK Party government.

In the 237-page indictment, of which 65 pages were read out in court, the Tehran Chief Public Prosecutor's Office laid out the details of the charges against Zanjani and his network of corruption. Attempting to disrupt the order of the Iranian economy; bribery and corruption in several public institutions including the National Iranian Oil Company (NOIC) and the Social Welfare Institution; fraud in at least 24 different banking transactions; forgery; and money laundering are only some of these charges.

The most crucial accusation against all suspects, however, is “fasad-fil-arz,” an Arabic term translated as spreading mischief on earth, the sentence for which is execution in Iran's judicial system that is based on Islamic law.

This terminology was widely discussed in Turkey after the Dec. 17 graft probes. When some allegedly pro-government scholars in Turkey defended the AK Party government and explained that corruption does not necessarily have to be taken as thievery, those who disagreed said corruption is indeed not thievery but “fasad-fil-arz” and therefore requires a heavier punishment than stealing.

The Tehran deputy chief prosecutor also accused Zanjani of transferring forged money to the banks of his associates in Malaysia and Tajikistan and of money laundering. The deputy chief prosecutor also said Zanjani conducted illegal transactions through certain Turkish banks.

Soltani told the Iranian media in August this year the parliamentary committee had obtained certain information that a great amount of Zanjani's money was managed by Zarrab in Turkey.

Even though the Tehran Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has not cracked down on these claims, at least for now, Pandora's Box has been opened and Iran's biggest corruption case that initially started with Zanjani might implicate many more people if the balances change one day.

http://www.todayszaman.com/business_death-sentence-sought-for-zanjani-in-irans-biggest-corruption-case_400606.html