Arab News has obtained documents from a money laundering network in Pakistan that show large sums of money being illegally transferred to Iran. The name of Khamenei's representative in Pakistan, with a monthly income of $200,000, appears in these documents.
The Arab News website reports on documents that reveal the transactions of a large money laundering network in Pakistan and the monthly income of Khamenei’s representative from these transactions. The website wrote in a report on Sunday, April 10, that the investigation into this network began after several members of the Zainabiyoun group were arrested in Karachi, Pakistan in the winter of 2020. Zainabiyoun is the name of a militant group affiliated with the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, which mainly includes Pakistani Shiites.
According to available documents, members of this network have been active in Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq for the past seven years.
Documents related to this network, presented to the court by Pakistani investigators, are based on investigative reports and correspondence on the WhatsApp messenger.
Arab News, referring to the various illegal methods used by this money laundering network to move funds, adds that the network used, among other things, Pakistani pilgrims who traveled to Iran to go to Qom and Najaf to smuggle money.
Ali Khamenei's representative among the defendants
According to the documents, one of the recipients of these sums was Abolfazl Baha'udin, Ayatollah Khamenei's representative in Pakistan. Baha'udin received money from a person named "Alireza," who is the main suspect in the case.
“Alireza” was one of 13 people arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, in January 2022 on charges of money laundering and “connections with a foreign intelligence agency.” Based on his confessions, a person named Syed Wisal Haider Naqvi, who was an assistant to Abolfazl Bahauddini, was also arrested.
According to documents in this case, Alireza revealed that he paid "200,000 dollars a month" in cash to Baha'uddin, Khamenei's representative in Pakistan, through Wesal Haider.
In this regard, an "informed source" in Iran told Arab News that Baha'uddin had previously left Pakistan, probably between August 2021 and February 2022 (Mordad to Bahman 1400).
Documents submitted to the court also show that Alireza, the main accused in the case, transferred about 31 million rupees (approximately $16,400) to the account of a television network in Pakistan and one million rupees to the account of a religious school in Islamabad, Pakistan - belonging to a religious political leader or party.
Arab News writes that Alireza and Haidar Naqvi are still in detention.
Iran's large money laundering network in different countries
Previously, reports about Iran's money laundering network had been published in various countries. For example, the American newspaper Wall Street Journal reported in late March 2011 that hundreds of millions of dollars were transferred between 61 bank accounts affiliated with Iran's underground network in 28 foreign banks in Turkey, China, Hong Kong, the UAE, and Singapore.
The report stated that this secret money laundering network has numerous financial institutions inside Iran for clearing foreign currency, and outside Iran, it also includes front and affiliated companies, as well as numerous accounts in commercial banks.
According to the latest report of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in October 2011, the Iranian government is still on the blacklist.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an international body that works to combat money laundering globally. The group considers the passage of several money laundering-related bills necessary for Iran to be removed from the blacklist.
Officials in the Islamic Republic have repeatedly pointed to Iran's various methods for circumventing global sanctions.
For example, on December 14, 2021, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Mokhbar, referring to "problems with transferring money" for importing coronavirus vaccine equipment to Iran, stated that one of the Islamic Republic's ambassadors imported this equipment to Iran as "home supplies."
Source: DW
