Extortion of IRGC Intelligence Interrogators from Economic Crime Suspects
Behind-the-scenes information reveals extortion by IRGC intelligence interrogators from those accused of economic corruption in Iran.
Judicial files exposed regarding economic corruption in Iran show that behind Khamenei’s theatrical anti-corruption campaign and his operatives, a larger corruption is hidden. This major corruption involves receiving massive bribes ranging from 400,000 dollars to 60,000 euros by IRGC intelligence ministry interrogators from economic corrupt officials.
Iran International also disclosed exclusive documents regarding IRGC intelligence economic corruption. The IRGC, which is the most secure institution of the Islamic Republic, has become a den for the greatest corruptions. In the disclosed documents, “Mohammad Mahdi Badi,” a senior IRGC intelligence interrogator, is one of the interrogators who has received bribes exceeding 600,000 dollars from economic crime suspects.
The bribes received were intended to alter the course of case investigations or overlook economic corruptions by major figures accused of economic crimes. In one of his speeches, Khamenei had stated that fighting corruption is one of the system’s strengths, but behind the scenes, larger corruptions have been carried out by Khamenei’s agents and the Raisi government.
Bribes from economic corruption suspects ranged from launching cryptocurrency exchanges to the latest exposed corruption known as “Chai Debash.” In 1400, “Sina Estavi,” the founder and manager of the online exchange “Cryptoland,” made an arrangement with an individual. This person was supposed to give Sina Estavi part of the 6 billion units of stolen “Bridge” cryptocurrency in exchange for 10,000 dollars. The person went to Sina Estavi and made the payment, but at that very moment, IRGC intelligence ministry officials arrived and arrested the money receiver. He was “Behnam Hajipour,” an IRGC intelligence interrogator, and intended to extort Sina Estavi. The judiciary accused Sina Estavi of creating unsecured tokens and fraud. A case with over 51,000 plaintiffs who had invested in the mentioned exchange. The massive bribes that Hajipour received from economic crime suspects, including Sina Estavi, exceeded 70 billion tomans.
The exposure of Hajipour’s bribe-taking revealed other cases where IRGC operatives had extorted bribes, one of them being Mohammad Mahdi Badi, the record holder for bribe-taking. Rasoul Danielzadeh was one of the major figures in economic corruption who owed 4,000 billion tomans to the banking system. State media reported his return to Iran after fleeing the country through a video. Later, it became clear that the video was merely a facade, and Danielzadeh voluntarily came to Iran as a result of an agreement with the IRGC to play the role intended by this military institution as the fourth defendant in the “Akbar Taberi” case, who was the former deputy of two heads of the judiciary. It is now clear that Danielzadeh paid bribes to Mohammad Mahdi Badi, the senior interrogator of the economic deputy of IRGC intelligence. Mohammad Mahdi Badi received 2.5 billion tomans in dollars from Ismail Khalilzadeh, the chairman of Esteghlal Club board and owner of a large hotel in Gilan, who was arrested by the intelligence ministry on charges of financial corruption in the Gilan silk factory, to settle his case. However, the bribe received was divided among Mohammad Badi, Seyyed Majid Tabatabai, Mohammad Ali Ghanche, Majid Jahanparavar, and Aria Yeganegi, members of IRGC intelligence interrogators.
The aforementioned individuals are only a small number of victims of intelligence ministry operatives who, by paying bribes, were cleared of economic charges and returned to normal life or migrated abroad. In fact, one end of economic corruptions is connected to system operatives and the most secure institution of the system, the IRGC.
