TEHRAN – Hashem Yekke-Zare, the CEO of Iran’s leading automaker Iran-Khodro Company (IKCO), was dismissed and arrested on Monday in his office upon an order by the Judiciary, Tasnim reported.

Yekke-Zare’s “uncoordinated decision” to increase prices was cited as the reason for his dismissal and arrest.

Also, a number of senior managers of IKCO and Saipa had been arrested in the past few days over irregularities in the sale section of the company.

“(Also) in recent days One of the deputy directors of Iran-Khodro and one of the managers of this company have been dismissed from their positions and subsequently arrested,” according to Fars.

Abbas Ali-Abadi was announced as new IKCO chief on Monday, hours after Yekke-Zareh was removed from the post.

The 57-year-old Ali-Abadi has been heading MAPNA Group, the top Iranian energy engineering and construction company, for the past 10 years and has never served in the car sector.

His appointment comes as the government seeks to allay public concerns about affordability and quality of the cars made in Iran amid sanctions imposed by the United States which has affected production at IKCO and other companies.

Founded more than 50 years ago, the IKCO leads production in Iran with over 600,000 passenger cars each year.

MH/PA