The scope of corruption of the Foundry family, from Isfahan Petrochemical to Sarmeh Bank; close to the Supreme Leader's household
Another name has emerged from the tangled web of economic corruption in Iran. The name of "Behrouz Riztagaran," who has been the subject of hearings on the capital bank case for months, was previously mentioned in the case known as the "Riztagaran Brothers." This time, he has been arrested on charges of disrupting the economic system.
The news of the arrest of this large economic investor in Iran was published by the media in Iran on Tuesday, July 2. Earlier, in the 14th court session of the Sarmeh Bank case, the prosecutor's representative announced that the period for summoning "Behrouz Rizhegaran" to the court had expired and said that an "arrest warrant" would be issued for him.
Who are the Foundry Brothers?
The Castor brothers are economic investors in Iran who are said to be close to government officials and have a history of involvement in Iranian football.
In the Voice of America program, The Last Page, which was broadcast in December 2018, details were explained about the transfer of 40 percent of the shares of Bank Sarmeh by the Tehran Municipality during the administration of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf to Behrouz Zarghami, a founder of the bank. The transfer ultimately led to a dispute between Bank Sarmeh and the municipality, and with the formation of an arbitration committee, Ezzatollah Zarghami, the former head of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation and a close associate of the Supreme Leader, was introduced as the founder's representative.
The Fars News Agency also wrote about Behrouz Yatsegaran's takeover of 40 percent of Sarmeh Bank, saying that this individual "purchased 40 percent of the shares of a private bank without paying a single rial from his own pocket and using the formal guarantees of a state-owned bank. After illegally taking over the shares and management positions, he took a loan from the same bank and settled the guarantees of the state-owned bank."
But the story of Behrouz Rihtgaran and his family goes back before the Sarmeh Bank. The fame of this family is related to the Rihtgaran brothers' numerous investments in various companies, including the Isfahan Petrochemical Company.
The molding brothers, named Firuz, Behrouz, Shahrouz, and Amir Hossein, are active in various economic fields such as paper, automobiles, football, construction, and the petrochemical industry.
The influence of the Caster Brothers in Iran is so great that not only have they not been in prison despite the conviction of the Caster Group, but Rasoul Ghahramani said in the 14th session of the Sarmeme Bank court that Behrouz Caster "completely illogically and illegally attended the meetings of the Sarmeme Bank board of directors, and despite not holding any position in the Sarmeme Bank, he had the right to express his opinion and dealt harshly and sometimes with the managers of the Sarmeme Bank."
Corruption of the Foundry Family, from Petrochemicals to the Capital Bank
The case of the foundry brothers dates back to 2013, when the media reported the “arrest of elements of an economic corruption network on charges of disrupting the economic system.” According to a Tasnim report, these individuals “sold the products of these two petrochemical companies to their own companies through fraudulent methods and by forming various companies abroad and invested the resources obtained from them in a country in the Persian Gulf and also in a European country in their own names and those of their relatives.”
When the Isfahan Petrochemical Company was forced to close in June 2013 with a debt of more than 1,000 billion tomans, and the Foundry Group also owed 400 billion tomans to Bisotun Petrochemical, it was finally in 2016 that the case against this group was filed with 10 charges against 45 defendants.
Fars News Agency reported at the time that "one of the two brothers who were arrested on the verge of fleeing the country had transferred some of his gold and jewelry, in the amount of about 10 large travel suitcases, the value of the contents of which was estimated to be tens of billions of tomans, to a safe in a pre-purchased location, where the property was seized and delivered to the Central Bank."
The judiciary finally announced in July 2018 that the two main defendants in the case had been sentenced to fifteen years in prison and forfeited 359 billion tomans and 26 million euros.
But despite this conviction, Behrouz Tashgaran has not been in prison, an issue that has once again drawn the attention of the media and public opinion to the role of government officials in the power and influence of the Tashgaran family.
Iran has been facing controversial economic corruption cases in the past year, from the massive embezzlement in the petrochemical case to the Sarmeh Bank case with more than 70 defendants. The Sarmeh Bank court hearings are being held while the defendants are forced to "line up" to enter the hearing.
It seems that the economic corruption in Iran cannot be unraveled so easily because its roots go back to government officials. Corruption that the United States of America has previously pointed out, writing in tweets about the wealth of Iran's rulers and the corruption of the Islamic Republic's government apparatus that "the Iranian government is full of corrupt hypocrites."
Not long ago, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in several tweets about the Islamic Republic's officials that instead of helping the people, they were involved in corruption.
Source: Voice of America
