BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran’s former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, faces sentences on seven verdicts of misusing billions of dollars in government funds while in office, the public prosecutor at Iran’s Supreme Audit Court said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday.

FILE PHOTO - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meets with Iraq's Vice President Khudair al-Khuzaie (not seen) during his visit in Baghdad July 18, 2013. REUTERS/Hadi Mizban/Pool

In one case, dating back to Ahmadinejad’s second term in office between 2009 and 2013, the misused funds amounted to more than two billion dollars, the prosecutor, Fayaz Shojaie, said in his interview with the newspaper Etemaad.

The verdicts have been announced to the parliament, Shojaie said. The Supreme Audit Court operates under the supervision of the Iranian parliament.

It is not clear whether Ahmadinejad was formally tried by the court and is facing sentencing, or whether the Iranian parliament must now follow up on the court’s verdicts.

Ahmadinejad gained support among poor and working class Iranians by promising to share the country’s oil wealth with them. Subsidy reforms implemented in his second term were aimed at delivering subsidies to the most needy while cutting their overall cost to the government.

Shojaie said that he did not believe the funds Ahmadinejad allegedly misused could be recovered.

“In the effort of fixing the damages the decision has been issued and finalized. But the damages and harm from his decisions are so big that we don’t have a way to carry it out,” Shojaie said. “So what can we do? He in no way has the assets that would cover this amount.”

He did not say what would happen if the money could not be recovered from Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad could not immediately be reached for comment.

Despite his popularity among some segments of the Iranian population, Ahmadinejad angered hardliners by clashing publicly with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on a handful of issues during his second term.

Ahmadinejad submitted his name to run as a candidate in the Iranian presidential election in May, but he was disqualified by the Guardian Council, a governmental body that vets candidates.

Half of the members of the Council are appointed by Khamenei who, without naming Ahmadinejad, hinted that he had advised him not to run. </s> Mahmud Ahmadinejad was no stranger to controversy during his two terms as Iran's president. Now he faces possible sentencing for his alleged mishandling of billions of dollars during his time in office.

 

 But following news that multiple verdicts have been issued against the former president, analysts looking at the murky legal process suggest that the development is intended as a warning for Ahmadinejad to rein in his criticism of the country's clerical establishment.

 

 "This is not simply a legal procedure but a political stick that can be wielded over Ahmadinejad to say, 'if you really challenge the system, then we have complete control and can take away your freedom,'" says Scott Lucas, an Iran specialist at Birmingham University in Britain and editor of the EA World View website.

 

 Fayaz Shojaie, the public prosecutor at Iran's Supreme Audit Court, told the Etemad newspaper in an interview published on July 30 that the court had issued seven verdicts against Ahmadinejad. The Supreme Audit Court falls under the supervision of parliament, and it is unclear if Ahmadinejad was formally tried by the court and is now facing sentencing or whether the verdicts should be viewed as recommendations to be followed up by parliament, which would be more in keeping with the court's role.

 

 Fall-Out

 

 Ahmadinejad, who served as president from 2005 to 2013, has clashed with and fallen out of favor with the establishment since leaving office. His administration is frequently tied to allegations of corruption and is accused by detractors of mismanaging the economy.

 

 He registered to run in the May presidential election against the wishes of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was eventually disqualified by the powerful Guardians Council, half of whose members are chosen directly by the supreme leader.

 

 His former vice president and close aide, Hamid Baghaei, was sent to prison in 2015 on unidentified charges. Baghaei was again behind bars over corruption allegations from July 9 of this year until his release on bail on July 26.

 

 In unprecedented criticism of the authorities, Baghaei accused the Judiciary of being "liars" and condemned the treatment of inmates in Iranian prisoners. The Judiciary, backed by the supreme leader, is an all-powerful institution, often acting against opponents and critics of the establishment.

​Ahmadinejad, who greeted Baghaei outside the prison, described his close ally's detention as "illegal" and a "great cruelty."

 

 Lucas says the timing of the court's verdicts against Ahmadinejad were not a coincidence, and that the comments from his former vice president, Baghaei, had "crossed a red line."

 

 "Ahmadinejad is more of an annoyance than a threat," Lucas says, although he notes the former leader's criticism has taken on "greater significance" in the current fractious political scene. 

 

 Iran's hard-line conservative camp, with which Ahmadinejad used to be allied, are deeply divided and were beaten convincingly by reformists and moderates in the 2016 parliamentary elections and May's presidential vote.Ahmadinejad's criticism and his political ambitions are complicating efforts to unite the hard-line camp, Scott says. 

 

 Corruption Allegations

 

 Ahmadinejad has long been dogged by claims of corruption and economic mismanagement. The Judiciary claims that it has a pending case against him, but details have never been released and no court proceedings have taken place.

 

 The Supreme Audit Court issued seven verdicts against Ahmadinejad, five of them related to revenues from oil, the country's main export. The two other verdicts were not disclosed. 

 

 The court said it was up to parliament to decide whether to bring charges against Ahmadinejad and sentence him.

 

 In one case, Ahmadinejad was found guilty of illegally allocating around $2 billion from the national treasury earmarked for paying cash subsidies to citizens. The government replaced food and fuel subsidies with cash payments in 2010, a move credited with compounding the economic crisis in the Islamic republic.

 

 The court also found Ahmadinejad guilty of spending millions of dollars on gasoline subsidies, saying the move was unlawful because it only benefitted a segment of society.

 

 Ahmadinejad was also found guilty of unlawfully allocating funds to the Iranian Red Crescent, a Tehran-based NGO that has been accused of smuggling intelligence agents and weapons to other countries.

 

 Another charge, which was not explained, issued a verdict against Ahmadinejad over the case of Babak Zanjani, one of Iran's richest men, who was arrested in 2013 and is accused of stealing more than $2 billion from the government through crooked oil sales he made during Ahmadinejad's time in office. He was convicted of massive embezzlement and sentenced to death in 2015.

 

 During Ahmadinejad's time in office Zanjani was considered something of a hero because of his ability to help Iran evade international sanctions and sell its oil abroad. But he was arrested soon after current President Hassan Rohani assumed office. </s> Baku. 22 January. REPORT.AZ/ First deputy of the former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Rahimi sentenced to 5 years 91 days in prison on corruption charges. Report informs referring to IRNA agency, Tehran Court for Serious Crimes issued the verdict against Rahimi, and sentenced him to imprisonment for 15 years, as well to return 826 thousand USD and pay a fine of 290 thousand USD.

As the former deputy of ex-president appealed the court's decision, the sentence was reduced to 5 years 91 days.

According to the information he was accused of that, being the first Vice President, he "took bribe" from the insurance company. </s> Iran arrests ex-minister of welfare over financial fraud

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's official IRNA news agency says authorities have arrested the former minister of welfare and social security for financial fraud.

The Sunday report says Parviz Kazemi was taken to Tehran's Evin prison two days ago.

Kazemi resigned from his post in 2006 after nearly a year under former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over political differences. He later worked in the banking sector.

In recent years, Kazemi turned into a critic of Ahmadinejad.

Several of Ahmadinejad's allies are in jail over charges relating to security and financial fraud.

In September, a court sentenced Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of Ahmadinejad to six-and-a-half years in prison for plotting to commit crimes against national security, propaganda against the Islamic Republic and insulting officials. </s> TEHRAN: Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has clashed with the country’s powerful and conservative judiciary, in a rare public row as tensions rise ahead of this year’s presidential election.

The moderate Rouhani, who is expected to stand for a second four-year term in the May vote, has targeted the judiciary in a series of public statements over the case of a billionaire businessman on death row for corruption.

Judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani has hit back with accusations of his own, and on Sunday supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made reference to the dispute.

In a speech to thousands of people in the religious city of Qom, Khamenei alluded to “recent arguments” among powerful figures, adding: “This will be resolved with the help of God.”

Rouhani launched the first salvo in a speech late last month referring to the case of Babak Zanjani, sentenced to death for fraud and other financial crimes in March after a lengthy trial that saw him convicted of fraudulently pocketing $2.8 billion.

Zanjani was arrested in 2013, three months after Rouhani took office pledging a crackdown on corruption.

He rose to prominence after sanctions were imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme, boasting in media interviews of finding ways around banking restrictions to ensure Tehran continued to receive money for international oil sales.

In his speech, Rouhani appeared to suggest that the judiciary had not done enough against others potentially involved in the case or to recover funds embezzled by Zanjani.

“How is it possible that a single man can pocket $3 billion? Who has helped him? Who are his accomplices?” Rouhani asked.

The death sentence against Zanjani was “very well”, Rouhani said, “but what becomes of the money?”

Last week Larijani hit back, defending the judiciary’s handling of the case and criticising the government for not doing enough to help track down missing funds.

“It should not be implied that the judiciary has done little on this case,” Larijani said, insisting it was working “to recover the misappropriated money”. “The case remains open... we have summoned former ministers and the former director of the central bank,” he said.

Larijani, brother of the moderately conservative parliament speaker Ali Larijani, said the government and foreign ministry were “not doing their duty of tracing the money taken abroad by Zanjani”.

Iranian authorities have so far only been able to recover about $600 million of the embezzled money from the seizure of Zanjani’s assets in Iran. Larijani called on the foreign ministry to demand information on the funds from the governments of Malaysia, Turkey, Tajikistan and China. The ministry replied that it had given its “full cooperation” to the judiciary.

Larijani also revealed claims made by Zanjani during his questioning that he had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to presidential candidates in 2013. The judiciary chief provided no names but said it would begin to investigate the alleged payments.

That claim appeared to raise the stakes in the dispute and prompted Rouhani to urge the judiciary disclose its own financial dealings.

“The government is ready to shed light on its accounts and expects the judiciary to do the same,” Rouhani said on Tuesday on Twitter, in an apparent reference to recent criticism of judiciary bank accounts managed directly by its chief.

“The judiciary accounts are transparent and anyone can view them,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie said in response to the tweet, demanding Rouhani “take action” for transparency.

“They need to tell the public how much Mr. Rouhani spent on the 2013 presidential campaign and where they money came from,” Mohseni Ejeie said.

Some critics have accused Rouhani of attacking the judiciary to appeal to his moderate base and divert attention from a lack of immediate economic results from the nuclear deal.

The 2015 agreement between Tehran and six world powers, which saw sanctions lifted in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme, is expected to be a centrepiece of Rouhani’s re-election campaign.

In his speech on Sunday, Khamenei appeared to urge the two sides to overcome their differences.

“The existence of an independent and courageous judiciary must be appreciated by everyone,” he said. “What defeats the enemy in its objectives is to have a strong judiciary and a government that is both brave and can plan accurately.”

Rouhani clashes with judiciary in run-up to vote was posted in World of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on January 09, 2017 and was last updated on January 09, 2017. This news story is related to Print/177798-Rouhani-clashes-with-judiciary-in-run-up-to-vote/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "Rouhani clashes with judiciary in run-up to vote" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/177798-Rouhani-clashes-with-judiciary-in-run-up-to-vote. </s> Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has clashed with the country’s powerful and conservative judiciary, in a rare public row as tensions rise ahead of this year’s presidential election. The moderate Rouhani, who is expected to stand for a second four-year term in the May vote, has targeted the judiciary in a series of public statements over the case of a billionaire businessman on death row for corruption. Judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani has hit back with accusations of his own, and today supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made reference to the dispute.

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In a speech to thousands of people in the religious city of Qom, Khamenei alluded to “recent arguments” among powerful figures, adding: “This will be resolved with the help of God.”

Rouhani launched the first salvo in a speech late last month referring to the case of Babak Zanjani, sentenced to death for fraud and other financial crimes in March after a lengthy trial that saw him convicted of fraudulently pocketing USD 2.8 billion.

Zanjani was arrested in 2013, three months after Rouhani took office pledging a crackdown on corruption. He rose to prominence after sanctions were imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme, boasting in media interviews of finding ways around banking restrictions to ensure Tehran continued to receive money for international oil sales.

In his speech, Rouhani appeared to suggest that the judiciary had not done enough against others potentially involved in the case or to recover funds embezzled by Zanjani.

“How is it possible that a single man can pocket $3 billion? Who has helped him? Who are his accomplices?” Rouhani asked.

The death sentence against Zanjani was “very well”, Rouhani said, “but what becomes of the money?” Last week Larijani hit back, defending the judiciary’s handling of the case and criticising the government for not doing enough to help track down missing funds.

“It should not be implied that the judiciary has done little on this case,” Larijani said, insisting it was working “to recover the misappropriated money”.

“The case remains open… we have summoned former ministers and the former director of the central bank,” he said.

Larijani, brother of the moderately conservative parliament speaker Ali Larijani, said the government and foreign ministry were “not doing their duty of tracing the money taken abroad by Zanjani”.

Iranian authorities have so far only been able to recover about USD 600 million of the embezzled money from the seizure of Zanjani’s assets in Iran.

Larijani called on the foreign ministry to demand information on the funds from the governments of Malaysia, Turkey, Tajikistan and China. The ministry replied that it had given its “full cooperation” to the judiciary.

Larijani also revealed claims made by Zanjani during his questioning that he had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to presidential candidates in 2013. </s> (RFE/RL) — A former Iranian minister of welfare and social security has been arrested for financial fraud, official media reported on November 11.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency said Parviz Kazemi was taken to Tehran’s Evin prison on November 9.

Kazemi resigned from his post in 2006 after nearly a year under former hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad over political differences. He later worked in the banking sector.

In recent years, Kazemi turned into a critic of Ahmadinejad.

Several of Ahmadinejad’s allies are in jail over charges relating to security and financial fraud.

In September, a court sentenced Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of Ahmadinejad, to 6 1/2 years in prison for plotting to commit crimes against national security, propaganda against the Islamic Republic, and insulting officials. </s> Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency is reporting that authorities have detained a close ally of former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Saturday report says the office of Tehran prosecutor’s said police detained Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei for “investigations.” It did not elaborate.

On Thursday, Mashaei, in front of the British embassy in Tehran, burnt a copy of a court verdict sentencing Hamid Baghaei, another Ahmadinejad ally who was sentenced to 15 years for the misuse of public funds when he was a vice-president under Ahmadinejad. Baghaei began serving his term earlier this week.

Several of Ahmdainejad’s allies are in jail over the misappropriation of public funds.



During Baghaei’s trial, Ahmadinejad repeatedly appeared outside the court criticizing many officials, including the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani.

Last Update: Sunday, 18 March 2018 KSA 01:10 - GMT 22:10 </s> A minister of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration has been detained over economic malfeasance charges.

Parviz Kazemi, former minister of welfare and social security in the first cabinet of Ahmadinejad, was detained two days ago and transferred to Tehran's Evin House of Detention on charge of causing disruption in the country's economic system, an informed judicial official told IRNA on Sunday.

Kazemi has also served as the chairman of Bank Sarmayeh's board of directors and a member of the board of trustees of Teachers' Investment Fund.

He was proposed by Ahmadinejad to the Parliament in August 2005, but resigned after one year.

Iran has launched an unrelenting campaign against economic corruption and any act aimed at disrupting the country’s economic system as the country is facing re-imposition of sanctions on its various economic sectors by the US administration.

In late September, Iranian Judiciary spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, told reporters that the Iranian judicial officials had handed down death sentences to three people convicted of economic corruption.

Mohseni-Ejei said that the death sentences were given by special tribunals set up in Tehran, which have so far handed down various sentences to 35 economic offenders.

He added that out of 35 convicts, three were sentenced to death for “spreading corruption on earth,” noting that the sentences would have to be upheld by Iran's Supreme Court before being carried out.

Mohseni-Ejei said 32 other defendants were given various jail terms up to 20 years for economic corruption.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in September that enemies of Iran have unleashed an all-out economic and media war against the country with the aim of creating “despair” and “pessimism” among people.

“Today, the Islamic establishment is faced with an all-out economic war, which is being led from a war room with full precision and hard work,” said the Leader.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces sentences on seven verdicts of misusing billions of dollars in government funds while in office, the Supreme Audit Court public prosecutor said. If confirmed, Ahmadinejad will be barred from public office for seven years.