Documents Reveal IRGC Intelligence Organization’s Plan to Issue Travel Bans for Iran’s Oil and Gas Managers
The “Adalet Ali” group has published documents through the “Iran International” television network regarding the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization’s plan to issue travel bans for 37 mid-level managers from the Rouhani government, 22 of whom are oil and gas sector managers.
In these documents, it is suggested that the mentioned individuals could flee the country and transfer secret information about Iran’s oil sales and methods of circumventing sanctions abroad.
This list was sent on September 6 of this year in the form of a letter through the legal deputy of the IRGC Intelligence Organization to Ali Qassi-Mehr, the Tehran prosecutor.
The IRGC Intelligence Organization requested in this letter that judicial authorities bring two managers of the Swiss-based NICO company, which is the primary entity responsible for selling Iranian oil in international markets, back to the country through designing charges and issue them travel bans.
Beyond this, Saeed Khashrow, the international affairs director of the National Iranian Oil Company, was accused of “multi-layered connections with infiltration networks and [the group] NIAC” and it was requested that he “be issued a travel ban through designing charges.”
The National Iranian American Council, known as NIAC, is an active group in America that says it works to “strengthen the role and influence of Iranian-Americans,” but NIAC critics say the group is a lobby for the Islamic Republic.
Charges Against Oil and Gas Sector Managers
The main charges against Iran’s oil and gas managers include matters such as “possessing extensive secret information about oil sales, likelihood of information disclosure, taking bribes, full knowledge of anti-sanctions measures regarding oil sales, possession of information related to cover vessels purchased,” and “leaking Iran’s” negotiations in the gas sector.
In the IRGC Intelligence Organization’s report, the name of Jafar Rabiei, CEO of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Holding, and five other managers of this company (Reza Abbaszadeh Semnan, Mohammad Reza Eftekhari, Mitham Amiri Bavandar Pur, Mohsen Saidi-Nasab, and Amitis Drani) have been mentioned, and these individuals have been accused of “taking percentages and bribes.”
This holding, considered the second-largest petrochemical holding in the Middle East, according to some reports, has more than 23 billion dollars in projects for implementation.
Persian Gulf Holding has been involved in recent years in the corruption case of the Petrochemical Trading Company, for which the judiciary issued a total of 180 years imprisonment and separate fines for 14 of the accused in this case.
Beyond this, 16 oil sector managers stand out in the IRGC Intelligence Organization list, including Nasrollah Sardashti, CEO of the National Iranian Tanker Company, Ali Mansourzadeh, his advisor, Aydin Khatlan, senior assistant to Bijan Zanganeh, Iran’s oil minister in the Rouhani government, Ghol am Reza Manouchehri Ardestani, CEO of OPEC company, Hamid Reza Haghbin Jahromi, international affairs manager of the Gas Company, Ali Akbar Pourabrahim, CEO of NICO company and five managers of this company (Milad Taherian, NICO deputy, Masoud Biglar Khani, Saeed Mousavi, Shahram Tawhid, and Marjan Bakhtiari), Saeed Khashrow, international affairs director of the Oil Company, Reza Dehghan, development deputy of the National Iranian Oil Company, and Seyyed Sahib Sadeghi, Ali Abadi Zare, and Ali Akbar Akhond Kazemi (managers of the National Iranian Tanker Company).
The IRGC Intelligence Organization also wrote that given that the brother of Saeed Mousavi, human resources manager of NICO company, is a member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization and his family resides in Spain, “the possibility of problems arising” exists and he should be issued a travel ban.
This report also mentions Aydin Khatlan, senior assistant to Bijan Zanganeh, oil minister of the Rouhani government, stating that he had “special access to all classified documents and information” and has “foreign contacts.”
IRGC-affiliated media outlets had published multiple reports about Aydin Khatlan over the past two years. FARS News Agency reported in June of this year that he is “under the scrutiny of oversight institutions” and wrote that some have “compared Zanganeh and Khatlan’s close relations to those of Ahmadi-Nejad and Mashaei.”
In the letter from the IRGC Intelligence Organization, Masoud Biglar Khani, a mid-level manager of NICO company, was accused of violating the protection of information related to the “Sanchi black box” by disclosing it and “should be issued a travel ban as soon as possible.”
The Sanchi tanker, flying a Panama flag and under Iranian charter, collided on January 6, 2018, in the East China Sea with the Crystal ship registered in Hong Kong and after a week caught fire, ultimately sinking completely.
According to Iranian officials, all its crew, including 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, were killed. In contrast, the families of Iranian victims of this incident insist that the ship’s crew did not die.
Power Ministry Managers and Security Charges
In another section of this list, the names of six managers from Iran’s Ministry of Power appear, who are mainly accused of “forming embezzlement gangs and receiving bribes and percentages,” and it is stated that their performance has caused “anti-security measures.”
By anti-security measures is meant the people’s protests in various parts of Iran, especially Khuzestan and Isfahan, against the Islamic Republic’s water policy, which led to widespread suppression by military and security forces and the killing and wounding of dozens of protesters.
This list includes Ghassem Taghi-zadehhamsI, deputy minister of power in the Rouhani government for water and sewage affairs, Homayon Haeri, deputy for electricity and energy affairs in the Ministry of Power in the Rouhani government, Hamid Reza Janbaz, CEO of the Water and Sewage Company and Ali Asghar Ghaane, his advisor, Shahin Pak-Rouh, deputy of the Water and Sewage Company, and Mohsen Tarz-Talebi, CEO of the Thermal Power Generation Company.
Hassan Rouhani’s Niece is Also Involved
The third group on this list includes free zone managers including Jafar Ahangeran, CEO of the Kish Free Zone, and Moraj Naderi, his economic deputy, and Ghods Najjar, Hassan Rouhani’s niece and one of the managers of the Kish Free Zone Organization.
Based on this report, Najjar’s husband was also the civil development deputy of the Kish Free Zone and has been accused of “being in the process of selling some Kish free zone lands” and misusing state assets.
IRGC-affiliated media outlets had previously published reports against Ismail Samavi, another nephew of Hassan Rouhani, accusing him of espionage.
Beyond this, Hossein Feridon, brother of Hassan Rouhani, was also sentenced to five years in prison in March 2020 with a complaint from the IRGC Intelligence Organization and accusations of financial corruption and bribery.
In February of this year, the IRGC Intelligence Organization also accused Hossein Feridon in a report of receiving billions of tomans from managers of the cruise parts manufacturing company in the form of bribes as well as assistance to ninth parliament election activities. The court hearing on this case has not yet been held.
Beyond this, the IRGC Intelligence Organization has demanded travel bans for Toraj Dehghanolkotchi, CEO of the Civil Aviation Organization, Mehrdad Jamaloprunaghi, deputy of Iran’s customs, Masoud Khatoni, board member of Bank Melli, Seyyed Javad Soleimani and Hamid Reza Rostegar, CEO and acting director of SAIPA, and Hamid Zadboum, head of Iran’s Trade Development Organization.
The IRGC Intelligence Organization’s report emphasized that Toraj Dehghanolkotchi’s, CEO of the Civil Aviation Organization, wife and children are in Turkey, and he was dismissed in June of this year due to “economic corruption,” and his case with a complaint from the IRGC Intelligence Organization is open in “Branch 3 of the Investigation Office of the State Employees Court.”
Toraj Dehghanolkotchi, who has a background as CEO of Mahan Airlines, was appointed as CEO of the Civil Aviation Organization in April 2019 and was removed from this position in mid-July of this year.
Before his removal, reports about corruption in the Civil Aviation Organization were published, but the “Kayhan London” website reported in July of this year that because Toraj Dehghanolkotchi released partial and important information about the IRGC Aerospace Force’s missiles firing at the Ukrainian plane at a press conference, his removal might be related to this matter.
Source: Radio Farda
