In recent weeks, numerous cases of organized corruption involving various agencies, ministries, and even the central bank have been reported. For example, the General Inspection Organization of the regime announced on December 2, that $3.37 billion in subsidy currency had been allocated to an importer for importing tea between 2019 and 2022, but no goods were imported for $2 billion of that amount, and the currency was sold in the free market. Additionally, in other imported goods worth $1.37 billion, there was a “multiple underreporting” of several times.
There have also been reports this week of simultaneous embezzlement and forgery in the payment of 244 marriage loans in the city of Qom, central Iran.
In another example of reports regarding embezzlement and financial corruption within the institutions of the Iranian regime, a member of Tehran City Council revealed on December 5 that it is unclear where 170 trillion rials (approximately $337.5 million) from the municipality’s budget have gone.
On 5 December, Heshmat-Allah Falahat Pishe, a former member of the regime’s Majlis parliament), told the state-run Etemad newspaper: “The Majlis has remained silent in the face of the disclosure of one of the largest embezzlements, which was predominantly carried out during the thirteenth government.”
Furthermore, Maryam Shokrani, an economic journalist and the economic secretary of the regime’s Shargh newspaper, commented on the recently exposed embezzlements, saying: “Only two cases of corruption have caused the country to lose around 2000 trillion rials (approximately $3.96 billion).”
Referring to the “astonishing corruption of the owner of the Debsh tea brand,” she mentioned that this one importer alone has taken “around $240 million annually,” which is equivalent to “14 years of tea imports acquired at a cheap dollar rate.”
The journalist stated that the tea imports in the past year amounted to “approximately 110,000 tons,” which is “twice the country’s need.” She said that these reckless imports, for which the importer also received a cheap dollar rate, have resulted in “setting the price of tea six times higher than the global consumer price, while also artificially inflating the price through hoarding,” causing significant damage to tea farmers.
Shokrani also emphasized reports about financial corruption documents of the Noor Financial and Credit Institution, which has links to “a number of influential individuals,” including “support from the members of the Majlis at the time.” She stressed that the “main shareholders” of this institution have obtained “large-scale facilities with fictitious accounts and destroyed the documents.”
The journalist continued, stating that “ultimately, this loss will likely be paid from the pockets of the people through inflation.”
Reactions to financial corruption in Iran have increased following the disclosure of several embezzlement cases.
Continuing with embezzlements and financial corruption within the institutions of the Islamic Republic, a member of Tehran City Council revealed on December 5 that it is unclear where the amount of “170 trillion rials” from the capital city’s budget has gone.
Of course, the last thing that concerns the MPs and other regime officials, if at all, is the livelihoods of millions of Iranians who are living in abject poverty. The reality is that they are fighting over who gets a bigger share of the pie.
In the meantime, the government continues to face the budget deficit problem and it will have to deal with growing waves of protests by teachers, pensioners, workers, and other segments of society whose longstanding demands remain unanswered.
