More Arrest Warrants in Growing Banking Scandal

Ahmadinejad’s Administration Also Seen as Target of Attacks

Iran’s Judiciary has issued arrest warrants for 14 more suspects in the largest banking fraud in Iranian history, these in addition to the 22 warrants issued last month. Today, the Judiciary spokesman, Hojjatoleslam Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, told reporters in Tehran that even though the banking laws might not have been strong enough to prevent the estimated $3 billion embezzlement, but the main culprits were those trusted to enforce the laws but chose a traitorous path to enrich themselves.

Mohseni-Ejei who is acting as the chief prosecutor in the case added that he was investigating the behavior of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) as well: Did the CBI exercise its supervisory role over the banks involved in the embezzlement and did its auditors performed their duties? [Fars news Agency, 10 October].

Any direct or indirect linkage of the CBI to the embezzlement case by the Judiciary would inevitably involve the most senior politicians in the government, including President Ahmadinejad, who has authority over the central bank. There were also parallel attempts by the conservatives to link the main suspect in the case to Ahmadinajd’s chief of staff and son-in-law, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, and his group that has already been branded as “deviationists” prior to breakout of the banking scandal.

There seems to be a two-prong attack on Ahmadinejad’s administration: Implicating it in the case indirectly for lack of supervision over the banks involved in the embezzlement and directly through linkage of the top suspect in the case to the group very close to the sitting president. The banking scandal is rapidly growing into a political scandal as well.

Correction: Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie is NOT Ahmadinejad's son-in-law. He is his son's father-in-law. Our apologies to our readers for the unintentional error made in this post, and thanks to one of our readers for catching it.