TEHRAN — Chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has voiced his forces’ readiness to help the Judiciary in ensuring security, fighting corruption, and punishing criminals.

In a message to Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi on Monday, Major General Hossein Salami lauded the top judge for launching a battle against corruption and said such efforts have built public trust in the establishment’s resolve to defend the oppressed.

The IRGC is fully prepared for cooperation with the Judiciary in ensuring public health and security, promoting justice and fighting corruption, Tasnim quoted Salami as saying.

Salami made the remarks while marking the start of Judiciary Week. He called the Judiciary one of the most important pillars of the Islamic Republic in defending the Islamic Revolution’s ideals and values. 

Since August 2018, the Judiciary has been holding public trials of individuals involved in major economic corruption cases.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has permitted the Judiciary to take special measures in order to confront economic corruption and called for “swift and just” legal action against financial crimes.

The Leader has described the “outright and unequivocal” approach toward economic corruption as one of the Judiciary’s major duties, stressing that confronting the corrupt must be decisive and effective.

In one of its high-profile cases, the Judiciary had Gholamreza Mansouri – a fugitive judge accused of corruption and taking more than $500,000 in bribes – arrested in Romania earlier this month.

However, Mansouri was found dead of apparent suicide on Friday at a hotel in Romania where he had been staying.

He was a co-defendant in a major financial corruption trial involving several senior judges accused of embezzlement and bribery.

Iran has officially asked Romania to launch a serious investigation into Mansouri’s death.

“We are awaiting the official report of the cause of this incident and we ask Romanian authorities to officially inform us of the precise cause of this incident,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Friday.

MH/PA