According to a report by CNN, the National Iranian Oil Company believes Babak Zanjani owes 2.6 billion euros to the company, but Judge Selavati in the issued court verdict has convicted the first defendant in the oil case to return 1 billion, 967 million, and 500 thousand euros to the oil company.
Rasoul Kohpayehzadeh, in an interview with Tasnim News Agency, in response to a question about how much the court determined Zanjani should return to the oil company in its ruling, said: Anyone, whether it’s my client or the oil company, can make claims, but the court verdict is the evidence, even if it is not final.
Babak Zanjani’s defense lawyer added: In the ruling issued by Judge Selavati for my client, the amount of debt has been determined, and my client has been convicted to return 1 billion, 967 million, and 500 thousand euros. Therefore, the oil company can claim its debt is 10 billion and we can also claim there is no debt, but the criterion is the court ruling.
Kohpayehzadeh continued: The value of my client’s domestic assets was announced in the court session by the deputy prosecutor as 2,600 billion tomans, which with a rough calculation shows that these assets cover 30 percent of my client’s debt, but the oil company’s lawyer, without precision and accuracy, said if the assets are sold, they would not even cover one-sixth of the debt.
Babak Zanjani’s defense lawyer also, regarding the pursuit of shares of “Owner Air” company that was sold by “Ghodrat Tanjel,” Zanjani’s asset trustee, said: With the recent power of attorney my client gave to the oil company on April 8, friends’ follow-up was carried out with greater speed. Unfortunately, the oil company’s lawyer recently made false statements and said the oil company, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by hiring foreign lawyers, is seeking to collect its claim from Zanjani, while Zanjani himself gave power of attorney so that the oil company could file lawsuits in Turkish courts; unfortunately, it was implied that Zanjani did not cooperate and the oil company directly entered the matter.
Kohpayehzadeh, regarding the latest status of settling my client’s debt through transferring money to the account number announced by the Central Bank, said: We previously said the process of lifting sanctions is moving slowly and banks are cautiously working with us, but friends were saying you are making excuses. Now Mr. Seif himself is saying that lifting sanctions has brought us nothing, and all private sector activists who have no political lines, and the banks themselves are saying we still cannot transfer money, and debts that others owed to the oil company have not yet been collected.
He added: The problems we had in this regard remain as they were, and my client’s latest action was also announcing readiness to deposit funds into a foreign bank account, which that bank’s euro broker refused to receive. In sum, the overall environment for banking transactions is really not provided, and this is an undeniable reality.
