Death Sentence Issued for ‘Sultan of Cars’ and His Wife; Two Parliamentary Representatives Convicted

Iran’s judiciary spokesman announced the issuance of death sentences for two defendants in the case of “disruption of the currency system and automotive economic system.”

According to Tuesday, May 20 reports, citing ISNA news agency and judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili, Vahid Behzadi and Najva Lashidaei, his wife, have both been sentenced to death for the crime of “participation in major disruption of the monetary and currency system leading to currency smuggling.”

However, the verdict issued for these two individuals is subject to appeal in Iran’s Supreme Court.

In the ruling for this couple, it was stated that they caused disruption in the currency and automotive system through “registration of fictitious orders, disruption of the distribution system for public necessities by pre-purchasing over 6,700 vehicles from Saipa Company, participation in money laundering operations amounting to 32 trillion rials, and matters related to coins, from which 24,700 full-weight gold coins and 100 kilograms of gold were discovered from the defendant’s residence.”

Vahid Behzadi is referred to as “Sultan of Cars” in some Iranian media outlets.

In Iran, multiple cases of economic corruption have been filed, with the primary defendants referred to with titles such as “Sultan of Coins,” “Sultan of Embezzlement,” “Sultan of Sugar,” “Sultan of Dried Fruits,” and “Sultan of Billion-Dollar Collateral.”

According to Esmaili, this case involved more than 50 defendants, for whom indictments were issued for over 40 individuals, and 34 were convicted in court.

As the judiciary spokesman announced, Mohammad Azizi and Faridan Ahmadi, two members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, have also been sentenced to 61 months of imprisonment each for the charge of “assistance in disruption of the automotive distribution system.”

Faridan Ahmadi and Mohammad Azizi, representatives of Zanjan and Abhar in parliament, were arrested in August of last year on charges of “disruption of the automobile market” and were released after several days by paying a 10 billion toman bail.

Among other convicted individuals in this case, which Gholamhossein Esmaili described as a “consolidated” case, is Mehdi Jamali, former CEO of Saipa, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for participation in disruption of the distribution system.

Reza Taghizadeh Makoui, former deputy director of marketing at Saipa, was also sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Hassan Hashtroudi, former head of general security at Saipa, was sentenced to 61 months of imprisonment for assisting in disruption of the distribution system.

Corruption in the Islamic Republic has become so widespread that at the request of Sadegh Larijani, the former head of the judiciary and with the approval of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, special courts have been established to address this matter.

The holding of these courts and the issuance of heavy sentences for a number of these defendants are regularly followed in Iranian media, but no reports have been published on the effectiveness of these arrests and sentences in reducing the level of corruption in Iran.

However, some Friday prayer leaders, without addressing the causes of such widespread corruption in the structure of the Islamic Republic, are calling for strict action against the defendants and the issuance of death sentences for them.

Source: Radio Farda