Iranian mogul at center of ‘unprecedented’ bank fraud claims

 

Iranian regulators have blocked the assets a mega-tycoon accused of masterminding a $2.6 billion bank fraud described as the biggest financial corruption scam in Iran’s history, state media reported Monday. The probe also could spill over into Iran’s internal power struggles between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the ruling clerics. The suspect — identified by the hard-line Kayhan newspaper as billionaire mogul Amir-Mansour Aria — is seen as linked to the so-called “deviant current” of Ahmadinejad allies who are facing arrests and crackdowns by Iran’s leadership. 0 Comments Weigh InCorrections? inShare Officials say the alleged fraud involved using forged documents to get credit at one of Iran’s top financial institutions, Bank Saderat, to purchase assets, including state-owned companies including major steel producer Khuzestan Steel Co. A Tehran-based economic analyst, Saeed Leilaz, told The Associated Press that the alleged scheme used the money to conduct “privatization using government money.” The case “indicates a wide corruption within a wide network,” he said. “This is the most unprecedented financial corruption case in the history” of Iran, said Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, head of a judicial investigations unit, after the first details of the case became public last week. The alleged network also included help from bank employees and some suspects have been arrested, Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi told state TV on Monday. He pledged to track down and recover the suspected fraud amount, which authorities estimated reached at least $2.6 billion. Media reports said the suspected fraud began in 2007, but was hiked over the past several months. Last week, Mohammad Jahromi, the CEO of Bank Saderat, revealed that the bank uncovered the alleged fraud in early August and informed security and judicial authorities. Aria’s business empire includes more than 35 companies from mineral water production to a football club and meat imports from Brazil. Calls to his office for comment were not immediately returned Monday. The newspaper Kayhan, which often reflects the views of Iran’s ruling clerics, said Aria had links with Ahmadinejad’s top ally, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. Conservatives accuse Mashaei and others of trying to challenge the authority of Iran’s theocracy. Dozens of Ahmadinejad allies have been arrested in the past month in crackdowns that have effectively killed the political future for Mashaei, who was seen as a possible successor to Ahmadinejad in 2013. Influential lawmaker Ahmad Tavakkoli said the parliament plans to summon Finance Minister Shamseddin Hosseini and the governor of central bank for questioning on the fraud case. Over the past months, Iranian media have reported major fraud cases in Iranian banking systems and government agencies. Last year, Iranian conservative lawmakers accused Ahmadinejad’s first deputy, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, of signing falsified financial documents. Rahimi denied the charges. In 2008, the country settled its biggest fraud case to date when an appeals court sentenced an Iranian businessman and a former adviser to parliament’s economic commission to 11 years in jail and payment of $145.8 million for corruption.