Exposé on the Emergence of a New Privileged Son; Mohammad Hossein Chamran, Son of Mehdi Chamran
Iran Wire: The Architecture News website has published a note revealing that in 2015, one month before the audit report of Abbas Abad Development Company was reviewed in the open session of Tehran City Council, senior municipal officials appointed Mohammad Hossein Chamran, son of Mehdi Chamran, Chairman of Tehran City Council, as “Deputy for Architecture and Urban Development of Abbas Abad Development Company” through a decree.
Yashar Soltani in a note titled “The Secret of Mehdi Chamran’s Silence” while pointing out that Mohammad Hossein Chamran “is the son of Mehdi Chamran, born in 1987, and was appointed as head of the urban development deputy of this company in September 2015,” emphasized that this appointment occurred only one month before the audit of Abbas Abad lands company in a closed session of Tehran City Council, a council chaired by Mehdi Chamran.
In this note, the unlawful actions of Tehran Municipality in Abbas Abad Development Company have been described as “financial rebellion of Tehran Municipality,” and the Architecture News website stresses that with the appointment of Mohammad Hossein Chamran, son of Tehran City Council’s chairman, the audit report examination of this municipality-affiliated company has been suspended, just as “previously the financial performance of Tehran’s former mayor remained in the drawer on the chairman’s desk. No one yet knows the fate of 320 billion tomans in expenditures without proper documentation during Ahmadinejad’s time. Previously the financial performance of Tehran’s former mayor remained in the drawer on the chairman’s desk. No one yet knows the fate of 320 billion tomans in expenditures without proper documentation during Ahmadinejad’s time.”
The Architecture News website, noting that “similar names are not uncommon among municipal managers. Names whose trail leads back to an old manager or commander, children of city council members who hold positions in the municipality, or relatives of some clerics,” stressed that “some of these names on the list of city managers are a cause for concern” and one of these names is “Mohammad Hossein Chamran, the name of Mehdi’s father,” who “since September 2015 has been appointed as head of the deputy for architecture and urban development of Abbas Abad Development Company.”
According to the report, Mohammad Hossein Chamran was born in 1987 and obtained his bachelor’s degree in architecture in 2010 from Tehran Azad University Central Branch, and the date of obtaining his master’s degree from Pam Noor University East has not yet been registered in this company’s system. Before joining Abbas Abad Company, he taught in educational complexes and in 2012 was appointed as Deputy for Urban Development of Abbas Abad Development Company, but in September 2015, exactly one month before the audit reports of this company were reviewed in Tehran City Council’s session, he was promoted and appointed as “Head of Architecture and Urban Development Deputy of Abbas Abad Development Company.”
Mehdi Chamran, however, in response during an interview with Iran Newspaper stated: “My son’s employment at the municipality has no effect on my performance.” Tehran City Council’s chairman, finding the Architecture News website’s interpretation of his son’s appointment as deputy of Abbas Abad Development Company and this company’s audit file “strange,” said: “It is interesting for me that this website has written about my silence on the audit matter, while I have had very strong sensitivity regarding Abbas Abad lands and have even explicitly declared my opposition to the construction of the Central Bank, Bank Sepah, and the railway building there, and of course this matter is not from yesterday and I am still following up on the Abbas Abad lands issue. Because I believe these lands should have cultural and tourism use.”
Mehdi Chamran, stating that “council auditors are sworn and independent, and any interference by the municipality, council, and employees of Abbas Abad lands development company in audit results is rejected,” said: “The green space in this area must be preserved in any case, and this matter has no connection whatsoever with the employees of this company, including my son who is working as head of the architecture and urban development deputy of this company.”
Architecture News website in response to Mehdi Chamran, Tehran City Council’s chairman, wrote: “The documents and background of Mohammad Hossein Chamran show that he has neither presented outstanding and worthy educational credentials nor has he noteworthy research experience or work record. Nevertheless, the son of the Tehran City Council chairman and nephew of martyr Mustafa Chamran, with this unacceptable resume, has been able to make a leap through the ranks of promotion—from teaching in a small private educational complex to heading the deputy for architecture and urban development in a massive company with extensive urban violations in Tehran’s Abbas Abad!”
This website emphasized that “Mehdi Chamran, Tehran City Council’s chairman, should know that the general public, merely by raising such claims and denials on his part, does not reach a convincing answer and will not be calmed, because existing evidence and circumstances, as well as experience, show that in the city’s management structure, not competence and legal standards but rather rent-seeking and relationships to a large extent govern affairs, and whoever denies this matter must prove their claim using necessary and sufficient documents and also through the entirety of their performance.”
Source: Iran Wire
