TEHRAN — Former Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani has expressed gratitude to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his support in the midst of the Judiciary’s fight against corruption that has brought his former deputy and himself under the spotlight.

In a letter addressing the Leader, Amoli Larijani said those who suffered losses during his tenure as the Judiciary chief have found the recent anti-corruption developments as an excuse to retaliate against him.

“Fighting corruption, whether within the Judiciary or outside of it, has been one of the establishment’s basic approaches since its foundation,” he wrote in his letter, according to IRNA.

“I’ve said before, and again I tell Your Excellency, that I have never supported a corrupt person and will never do so,” Amoli Larijani added.

Ayatollah Khamenei on Saturday hailed the Judiciary’s anti-corruption measures, saying the battle against the “virus of corruption” should continue “without negligence”.

Expressing his satisfaction with the Judiciary’s measures over the past year, the Leader said, “The fight against corruption, which has reached its peak in this period, should strongly continue without negligence and on the basis of rights, justice and law, with no encroachment and oppression of innocent people.”

He also said the movement to fight corruption, which may be witnessed now in the Judiciary during Ebrahim Raisi’s term, began during the time of Amoli Larijani. 

Amoli Larijani had started this effort from both within and outside of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Khamenei added.

Amoli Larijani’s former deputy, Akbar Tabari, was arrested in July 2019 for large-scale financial and legal misdeeds. His trial in recent weeks has led to allegations leveled at the former Judiciary chief.

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

Ayatollah 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.

MH/PA