Hedayati’s Statements in Court Regarding Payment of 21 Billion Tomans to Former Iranian Ambassador to Turkey

Hossein Hedayati, a football investor, declared in his fifth court session that he had “given 21 billion tomans to the former Iranian ambassador to Turkey” and also paid “two billion dollars” to the head of the Football Federation for the national team’s expenses.

According to ISNA news agency, Mr. Hedayati said on Monday, March 18: “Because I took out a secured loan, they call me a disruptor. I wish I could mention the issues of the Resistance Front and ISIS issues.”

He provided no further explanation of these statements.

Mr. Hedayati’s reference to the “Resistance Front” could refer to possible financial assistance he provided to the presence of Iranian military forces in Iraq and Syria.

He also stated: “The Iranian ambassador to Turkey in the previous government took 21 billion tomans from me, and after four years of indictment issuance, his court case has still not been addressed.”

Mr. Hedayati did not mention the ambassador’s name.

Firuz Dolatabad served as Iranian ambassador to Turkey until 1385 (2006), Bahman Hosseinpour served from 1387-1391 (2008-2012), and Alireza Bigdeli served from 1391-1394 (2012-2015).

Mr. Hedayati also announced in his court session that he had provided assistance exceeding 250 billion tomans to 14 sports federations.

He stated: “Mr. Taj (head of the Football Federation) took two million dollars from me, which he also confirmed. I told Mr. Taj several times to get permission from the Sepah and the prosecutor’s office for taking money from me, but he said that I had introduced three people’s names for receiving money and they said they would only take money from Hossein Hedayati.”

Mr. Hedayati also claimed he had paid “150,000 dollars” to the Volleyball Federation so it would distribute it to players as a reward in Polish competitions.

Hossein Hedayati is charged in the indictment of owing 1,500 billion tomans to banks, including “Sarmayeh Bank,” as principal and accrued interest on loans he received.

He is also accused of obtaining part of these loans through shell companies, and some of the collateral he deposited to obtain loans is worth 13 times less than stated through bribery payments.

According to the indictment, several workers, taxi drivers, and motorcycle couriers were appointed as general managers of these shell companies.

In Monday’s court session, Mr. Hedayati also criticized the fact that the case of Hossein Fereydoun, brother of Hassan Rouhani, is being held in closed session while his court is being held in open session.

In this session, Mr. Ghahremani, the prosecutor’s representative, said: “Regarding Sarmayeh Bank, which has about 400 defendants, some of the accused are missing… they have taken amounts of money out of the country and this case is in many complications.”

He also announced that indictments have been issued for eight Sarmayeh Bank managers, and indictments for 32 more managers will be issued after the Nowruz holidays.

Ali Bakhshayesh, Mohammad Reza Toosoli, and also Parviz Kazemi, three members of Sarmayeh Bank’s board of directors, have been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, 74 lashes, and permanent disqualification from government positions.

Based on the indictment read in court, the most important charge against Sarmayeh Bank is “14,000 billion tomans of embezzlement of Teachers’ Welfare Fund assets.”

The main shareholder of Sarmayeh Bank (47%) is the Teachers’ Welfare Fund, and the current case began following the discovery of corruption in this fund.

The Teachers’ Welfare Fund has over 800,000 members affiliated with the Ministry of Education and pays annual interest to them from teachers’ monthly deposits.

Source: Radio Farda