Dismissal Ruling Against Former Central Bank of Iran Governor Confirmed

The Farsi News Agency has reported that the former governor of Iran’s Central Bank is barred from holding any government position, including serving as an advisor to Hassan Rouhani, due to his “dismissal from service.”

Farsi, a news agency close to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported on December 6 that Seyf was sentenced to dismissal from service by the Court of Accounts, which operates under the supervision of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and this ruling was confirmed upon appeal.

This report was also republished by Mizan News Agency, the news agency affiliated with Iran’s judiciary.

Valiollah Seyf served as Governor of the Central Bank of Iran from September 2013 to August 2018. He resigned from his position at a time when the foreign currency rate in Iran’s market had risen sharply.

However, about a month after Seyf’s resignation, he was appointed by Hassan Rouhani as “Presidential Advisor on Monetary and Banking Affairs.” A decision that the news agency affiliated with Iran’s judiciary has now announced has been invalidated. The news agency described Seyf’s activity as “illegal consultation.”

The Court of Accounts of Iran, which operates under the supervision of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, is responsible, according to Article 55 of Iran’s Constitution, for “examining all accounts of ministries, institutions, state-owned companies, and other bodies that use the general budget of the country.”

The ruling against Seyf comes at a time when in July of this year, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, referring to widespread protests, said Iranians are fed up with the corruption and injustice of their leaders.

The U.S. Secretary of State also said in April of this year at the Heritage Foundation that a strong stench of corruption emanates from Iran’s regime and officials are stealing from their own people.

The Court of Accounts announced in the autumn of this year that “violations” by Iran’s Central Bank in January 2018 are “established” and for this reason, Seyf and his deputies have been sentenced to dismissal from service.

Seyf is among the individuals who have been interrogated in cases referred to as “currency defendants” and, as Iran’s judiciary spokesman previously announced, is subject to a travel ban.

Over the past several months, reports of Seyf’s arrest have been published multiple times, but each time the judiciary has denied the news.

During spring and summer of this year and after the United States announced it was withdrawing from Iran’s nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group, the foreign currency rate in Iran’s market increased several times over, and in some cases, the price of each dollar reached close to 18,000 tomans.

Critics of the Rouhani government say that incorrect policies of the Central Bank and government at that time caused this crisis to persist.

Source: Voice of America