Unlawful and ‘Illegitimate’ Use of Second Paycheck by Parliament Representatives

Mohammad Javad Jamali Nobandegani, a representative in the tenth parliament, says some representatives in the eleventh parliament “under pressure” use government vehicles and premises for free, while also receiving separate amounts in their second paycheck for paying such expenses.

Mr. Jamali Nobandegani, who was the spokesman for the oversight committee in the previous parliament, stated on Wednesday, September 5th, in an interview with the Young Journalists Club that such expenses are related to the representatives’ second paycheck.

According to this former parliament representative, the second paycheck for representatives “includes office expenses, water and electricity costs, vehicle rental, fuel consumption, personnel, hospitality, office supplies and stationery, and advertisements, all mentioned in the same paycheck”.

However, according to Mr. Jamali, these representatives, in addition to receiving vehicles from governorates, “even pressured government offices or universities to obtain spaces so they wouldn’t have to pay rent”.

Based on the explanation of this former parliament member, “the vehicle rental amount is for its use in Tehran, and for provincial vehicles the same office expenses are used”.

Based on Mr. Jamali Nobandegani’s clarifications, it appears that cash amounts for vehicle and office expenses in representatives’ electoral districts are deposited into their accounts, but some representatives, instead of spending it on the mentioned items, use pressure from their representative position to government institutions and centers to receive free vehicles and office space for their representative offices.

According to this oversight committee member of the tenth parliament, receiving government facilities prevents “oversight” of government institutions, and the unlawful use of government facilities in the legislative branch “is religiously problematic”.

The release of second paycheck details comes as the first salary for parliament representatives, which was announced as six million tomans until 2017, has now reached 11 million tomans per month.

Previously, in mid-June of this year, Hossein Jalali, representative of Rafsanjan and Anار in parliament, also announced that 231 million tomans was deposited into his account in his first month in parliament.

Mr. Jalali had explained that from this amount, 11 million tomans was for representative salary, 200 million tomans for housing allowance, and 20 million tomans for “other expenses”.

The release of this news at that time met with widespread, mostly negative reactions on social media networks, and many users compared the representatives’ income and their “special privileges and rent-seeking benefits in economic activities” with the living standards of the general population.

Source: Radio Farda