Disclosure of documents from the IRGC's intelligence planning for the travel ban on Iranian oil and gas executives
The "Justice Ali" group has published documents through the "Iran International" television network about the planning of the IRGC Intelligence Organization to ban the exit of 37 middle managers of the Rouhani government, 22 of whom are managers in the oil and gas sector.
These documents suggest that the individuals in question may flee the country and transfer secret information about Iranian oil sales and methods for circumventing sanctions abroad.
This list was sent to Ali Qasi Mehr, the prosecutor of Tehran, on September 5th of this year in the form of a letter through the deputy legal officer of the IRGC Intelligence Organization.
In this letter, the IRGC Intelligence Organization has asked judicial authorities to deliberately bring two managers of the Swiss-based Niko Company, which is primarily responsible for selling Iranian oil in international markets, into the country and ban them from leaving.
In addition, Saeed Khoshroo, the director of international affairs at the National Oil Company, has been accused of having “multi-layered connections with influence networks and the NAIQ [group]” and has been called upon to “be banned from leaving by design.”
The National Iranian American Council, known as NIAC, is an active group in the United States that says it works to "strengthen the role and influence of Iranian Americans," but opponents of NIAC say that the group is a lobby for the Islamic Republic.
Accusations of oil executives
The main charges brought against Iranian oil and gas managers include "possessing a large amount of secret information about oil sales, the possibility of disclosing information, accepting bribes, having full knowledge of anti-sanctions measures regarding oil sales, possessing information related to purchased cover ships," and "leaking Iran's negotiations" in the gas sector.
The IRGC Intelligence Organization report also mentions Jafar Rabiei, CEO of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Holding, and five other managers of the company (Reza Abbaszadeh Semnani, Mohammad Reza Eftekhari, Meysam Amiri Bavandpour, Mohsen Saeedi Nasab, and Amitis Durrani), and these individuals have been accused of "taking kickbacks and bribes."
This holding company, which is considered the second largest petrochemical holding company in the Middle East, has more than $23 billion in projects to implement, according to some reports.
In recent years, Persian Gulf Holding was also involved in the corruption case of the Petrochemical Trading Company, in which the judiciary sentenced 14 defendants in the case to a total of 180 years in prison and separate fines.
In addition, the IRGC Intelligence Organization's list includes the names of 16 oil executives, including Nasrollah Sardashti, CEO of the National Iranian Tanker Company, Ali Mansourzadeh, his advisor, Aydin Khatlan, senior assistant to Bijan Zanganeh, Iranian Oil Minister in the Rouhani administration, Gholamreza Manouchehri Ardestani, CEO of OPEC, Hamidreza Haqbin Jahromi, Director of International Affairs of the Gas Company, Ali Akbar Pourabrahim, CEO of Niko Company, and five of the company's managers (Milad Taherian, Deputy Director of Niko, Masoud Biglarkhani, Saeed Mousavi, Shahram Tohid, and Marjan Bakhtiari), Saeed Khoshro, Director of International Affairs of the Oil Company, Reza Dehghan, Deputy Director of Development of the National Iranian Tanker Company, and Seyyed Saheb Sadeghi, Ali Ebadi Zare, and Ali Akbar Akhund Kazemi (directors of the National Iranian Tanker Company).
The IRGC Intelligence Organization also wrote that given that the brother of Saeed Mousavi, the human resources manager of Niko Company, is a member of the People's Mojahedin Organization and his family also resides in Spain, there is a "possibility of problems" and he should be banned from leaving.
The report also mentions Aydin Khatlan, a senior assistant to Bijan Zanganeh, the oil minister in Rouhani's government, who has "special access to all classified documents and information" and "has foreign connections."
IRGC-affiliated media outlets have published numerous reports about Aydin Khatlan over the past two years. In June this year, Fars News Agency reported that he was “under the microscope of regulatory agencies” and wrote that some “have likened the close relationship between Zanganeh and Khatlan to that between Ahmadinejad and Mashaei.”
In the letter from the IRGC Intelligence Organization, Masoud Biglarkhani, a middle manager of Niko Company, is accused of not respecting the protection of information related to this incident by disclosing the "black box information of Sanchi" and "should be banned from leaving as soon as possible."
The Panama-flagged tanker Sanchi, which was chartered by Iran, collided with the Hong Kong-registered ship Crystal in the East China Sea on January 6, 2017, and after a week of fire, it finally sank completely.
According to Iranian officials, the entire crew, including 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, were killed. However, the families of the Iranian victims of the incident insist that the ship's crew did not die.
Ministry of Energy managers and security allegations
Another part of this list includes the names of six managers of the Iranian Ministry of Energy, who are mainly accused of "forming a gang of fattening workers and receiving bribes and kickbacks," and it is said that their actions have led to "anti-security measures."
The anti-security measures refer to the protests of people in various parts of Iran, especially Khuzestan and Isfahan, against the water policies of the Islamic Republic government, which led to widespread repression by military and security forces and the killing and wounding of dozens of protesters.
This list includes Qasem Taghizadeh Khamsi, Deputy Minister of Energy in the Rouhani government for Water and Water Resources Affairs, Homayun Haeri, Deputy Minister of Energy for Electricity and Energy Affairs in the Rouhani government, Hamidreza Janbaz, CEO of Water Resources Company and Ali Asghar Ghane, his advisor, Shahin Pakrouh, Deputy Minister of Water Resources Company, and Mohsen Tarztalb, CEO of the Thermal Power Production Company.
Hassan Rouhani's niece is also involved.
The third group on this list is the managers of free zones, including Jafar Ahangaran, CEO of the Kish Free Zone, and Meraj Naderi, his economic deputy, and Qodsiyeh Najjar, Hassan Rouhani's niece and one of the managers of the Kish Free Zone Organization.
According to the report, Ms. Najjar's husband was also the deputy director of development for the Kish Free Zone and was accused of "selling some of the land in the Kish Free Zone" and "misusing" government property.
The Revolutionary Guards' media had previously published reports against Ismail Samavi, another nephew of Hassan Rouhani, accusing him of espionage.
In addition, Hossein Fereydoun, Hassan Rouhani's brother, was also sentenced to five years in prison in October 2019, following a complaint by the IRGC Intelligence Organization and charges of corruption and bribery.
In February of this year, the IRGC Intelligence Organization accused Hossein Fereydoun in a report of receiving billions of tomans in bribes from the managers of the Cruise Parts Company, as well as contributions to the election activities of the Ninth Parliament. The trial of this case has not yet been held.
In addition, the IRGC Intelligence Organization has called for the banning of Touraj Dehghani, CEO of the Civil Aviation Organization, Mehrdad Jamal Arunaghi, Deputy Director of Iranian Customs, Masoud Khatuni, member of the board of directors of Bank Melli, Seyyed Javad Soleimani and Hamid Reza Rastegar, CEO and Deputy Director of Saipa, and Hamid Zadboum, Head of the Trade Development Organization of Iran.
The IRGC Intelligence report emphasizes that the wife and children of Touraj Dehghani, the CEO of the Civil Aviation Organization, are in Turkey and that he was dismissed in June of this year due to "economic corruption" and his case is open in the "Branch 3 of the Investigation of Government Employees' Prosecution" following a complaint by the IRGC Intelligence Organization.
Touraj Dehghani, who previously served as CEO of Meraj Airlines, was appointed CEO of the Civil Aviation Organization in May 2019 and was dismissed from this position in mid-July of this year.
Prior to his dismissal, reports were published about corruption in the aviation organization, but the "Kayhan London" website wrote in a report in July of this year that because Touraj Dehghani disclosed detailed and important information about the IRGC firing missiles at the Ukrainian plane in a press conference, his dismissal may be related to this issue.
Source: Radio Farda
