Tehran Municipality Debt Announced at ’66 Thousand Billion Tomans’

The financial deputy of Tehran Municipality stated that the “total debt” of this organization is “66 thousand billion tomans,” of which 6,700 billion tomans relates to Tehran Municipality’s debts to contractors in 2020.

Abdolhamid Imami, speaking at a press conference on Monday, May 17, did not provide further details about the municipality’s debts and said that during the management period of Pirouz Hanachi at Tehran Municipality, “1,700 billion tomans of debts have been reduced.”

He also announced that Tehran Municipality has collected its claims from the government amounting to 30 thousand billion tomans and from Rassa Trade Company, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, amounting to 25 thousand billion tomans.

The financial deputy of Tehran Municipality did not mention the total amount of government and Guards Corps debts to the municipality, even though the amount of debts from companies affiliated with the Guards Corps has become a controversial issue among municipality officials and the Guards Corps in recent months.

According to Mahmoud Mirloohi, head of the economic committee of Tehran City Council, during financial exchanges between the two institutions, 1,700 billion tomans of Guards Corps debts to Tehran Municipality, which dated back to 2015, disappeared from the financial minutes of 2016.

Rassa Trade Company, which was one of the main arms of financing the Quds Force of the Guards Corps, was dissolved following widespread corruption revelations, and three senior managers—Masoud Mehrdadi, Mahmoud Khakpour, and Mahmoud Seif—were sentenced to two years, five years, and 30 years imprisonment and monetary fines, respectively.

In addition to these three individuals, Isa Sharifi, deputy of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf during his tenure as Tehran’s mayor, was also sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, monetary fine, and restitution of embezzled funds.

Source: Radio Farda