Sadegh Larijani Unable to Respond to Mike Pompeo’s Revelations About Billion-Dollar Wealth
Ten days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech referring to the financial corruption of Iran’s head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani made only a public statement calling these remarks “unethical” and appeared unable to provide a substantive response.
Two weeks ago on Sunday, July 22nd, Mike Pompeo addressed Iranians residing in America and, referring to the wealth of clergy in Iran, said: for example, look at Sadegh Larijani, the head of Iran’s judiciary. He has at least 300 million dollars in wealth from embezzling public treasury funds in his personal accounts. The Trump administration sanctioned Larijani in January for human rights violations, because we have no fear of dealing with the regime at its highest levels… Call me crazy, you won’t be the first, but I’m a bit skeptical that a wealthy fat cat under international sanctions is the right person for Iran’s highest judicial position.
It appears that Mr. Larijani is unable to respond to these explicit statements by America’s Secretary of State. Sadegh Larijani remained silent since Mr. Pompeo’s remarks and only alluded to these statements implicitly on Tuesday.
Without naming Mr. Pompeo, he said: Some statements by American leaders and including the completely false claims by the US Secretary of State regarding my assets or some of the grand sources of emulation are not only contrary to legal and moral standards, but also, setting aside these matters, are beneath the stature of a politician. Many officials of countries, even if they lack piety, at least respect the dignity of their positions. US government officials have fallen short of maintaining even this much, and this is very strange.
Since coming to power, the Trump administration, in addition to criticizing Iran’s nuclear activities and Iran’s support for terrorism, has also pressured Iran in the field of human rights. The US government, with the help of lawmakers, is also seeking to pass legislation to expose the assets of Iran’s leaders.
Ten days earlier, Mike Pompeo also spoke about Nasser Makarem Shirazi, one of the government-affiliated sources of emulation, saying he was able to make 100 million dollars from illegal sugar trading and became known as the “Sugar Sultan” in Iran.
The US Secretary of State also said about Ayatollah Khamenei that he runs the “Execution of the Imam’s Order Headquarters,” which is worth close to 100 billion dollars.
The leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran has emphasized fighting corruption in recent years’ speeches, but cases involving individuals attributed to him have never been investigated.
During the three-thousand-billion-dollar embezzlement that was exposed in 2013, Mr. Khamenei complained about the revelations in the media and said the matter should not be dragged on.
Two years ago, Mahmoud Sadeqi, a Tehran representative, made revelations about Sadegh Larijani’s personal accounts but faced threats of arrest and legal prosecution.
Source: Voice of America
