TEHRAN – The government announced on Tuesday that it is prepared to cooperate with the Judiciary to clarify the details surrounding “Babak Zanjani” – a well-known tycoon who is facing charges of complicity in money laundering, forgery and fraud.

Government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht thanked the Judiciary for following up on the case and said the government will do everything in its power to return the money the billionaire owes to the government, ISNA reported.

Zanjani was arrested in 2013 – shortly after the election of President Hassan Rouhani – as part of the new government’s crackdown on corruption. He was sentenced to death in March 2016 over a number of charges including money laundering and disrupting the country’s economy.

Nobakht emphasized that the case is of great importance, since the convict owed nearly $3bn to the government. 

He also said that the Ministry of Intelligence can provide the Judiciary with factual information about the case.

“The nation expects a decisive action from the Judiciary with regards to returning the resources to the public treasury,” he added.

Last week, Rouhani said the mechanisms that are supposed to fight corruption in the country are either flawed or not working.

“Either the laws in place should be seriously reviewed as to make them more effective or the bodies and organizations responsible for executing the law are lax enough” to do their jobs properly, Mehr quoted Rouhani as saying.

Rouhani went on to say, “The public still awaits persuasive answers to many questions in Judiciary’s handling of the corruption; Mr. Zanjani has received a sentence but the demanding question should still be answered why an individual should be given such scope of activity and opportunity to have access to and handle huge sums of money just through his links to some important officials in the (previous) government; the stolen money should be returned to the public purse; this is a public demand that should be addressed above all other considerations.”

Rouhani’s remarks received severe rebuke from Judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani on Monday.

“Those who were involved in the case – including some former ministers, former governor of the Central Bank of Iran, and others – have been repeatedly summoned to the Judiciary and underwent hours of investigation and interrogation. The thing that should not be forgotten is that the case is still open, and no one has ever claimed that those involved have been exonerated,” the Judiciary chief said.

He also stressed that the Judiciary is determined to fight corruption.

MH/PA