Financial Corruption in Iran | 110 Million Dirhams Missing from Parsian Bank

During the seventh hearing on financial corruption charges against officials at Mellat and Parsian banks, it was revealed that 110 million dirhams disappeared from the bank.

The IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday, November 5, that during the court hearing, the prosecutor’s representative stated that based on the defense lawyer’s brief for one of the defendants, of the 226 million dirhams that had been deposited in this defendant’s name from Parsian Bank, 110 million dirhams were withdrawn by bank managers, leaving only 110 million dirhams remaining in the account.

In recent years, numerous reports have emerged about billions of dollars in lost foreign currency or massive money transfers out of Iran. About two weeks ago, the First Vice President of Iran, responding to criticisms regarding the government’s official exchange rate of 4,200 tomans, stated that “those who sold 22 billion dollars of national funds to foreigners at low prices in Dubai and Istanbul under the pretext of balancing exchange rates should be ashamed, and those who withdrew 17 thousand billion tomans within one and a half months without authorization from Central Bank resources should be ashamed.”

Previously, the United States has repeatedly pointed to corruption within the Islamic Republic government.

The U.S. State Department, in tweets on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day, wrote about the wealth of Iran’s rulers and corruption within the Islamic Republic’s governmental apparatus, stating that “Iran’s government is full of corrupt hypocrites.”

Recently, an updated list of government foreign currency recipients was released, and according to reports, approximately “3 billion euros” was found to be in the possession of two prominent families. However, the names of these families have not been disclosed.

The story of “the disappearance of one billion euros in government foreign currency” also sparked controversy in Mordad of this year. A matter that the government denied.

This level of corruption comes at a time when the economic crisis has triggered waves of popular protests in Iran.

Source: Voice of America