22 of 37 suspects held in $2.6bln bank scam

Iranian judiciary officials said they have arrested 22 of 37 suspects over $2.6 billion bank corruption case, while 15 more have been summoned to the court.Speaking in an interview with Iran's state-run TV, Prosecutor-General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei said the bank corruption case started in 2007 by Amir Mansour Aria Development Co. and affiliated companies linked to the family of businessman Amir Mansour Khosravi, and progressed in 2010 after some banks, including Sadarat and Melli Bank, issued loans for the company. According to Javan Daily, Amir Mansour Khosravi owns 38 factories, most of which are steel factories. Khosravi had registered a company with 200 billion rials ($20 million) five years ago. Khosravi had bought 230 acres of land on Kish Island and hundreds acres of land near Kashanak at the price of 16 rials (0.16 cent) per meter. Ejei added that prime suspects have been sent to a Tehran prison from the southwestern city of Ahvaz pending further investigation. Seven state and private banks are linked to the fraud, which involved forging of letters of credit from Bank Saderat, which is partly state-owned, to secure loans that were used to buy state-owned companies, Iranian media said. Some of the money was transferred offshore, Mohseni-Ejei said. The $2.6 billion embezzlement scandal involving seven government-owned and private banks, which had used fraudulent Saderat Bank documents to secure multi-billion dollar credit and purchase state-owned companies, was recently uncovered. Iran's Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani has appointed Prosecutor General Hojjatoleslam Gholam- Hossein Mohseni-Ejeii to investigate the case. On September 27, Mohseni Ejeii announced that 22 people had been arrested in connection with the case and that the exact nature of the fraud is still under investigation. According to the Prosecutor General, necessary measures have been taken to prevent the criminals from leaving the country or transferring money to offshore accounts. On Monday Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stressed the necessity for a serious punishment of those guilty in the recent bank scam, and blamed the country's officials for their lack of diligence in preventing the case. "Although authorities welcomed confrontation against economic corruption, but if action had been taken on my advice, we would have never been afflicted with such incidents as the recent corruption in the banking system," the Leader said, addressing a meeting with cultural and executive staff and personnel of Hajj in Tehran on Monday. Ten years ago, the Leader had made a series of recommendations for the country's officials requiring them to launch a tough combat on economic corruption. The Leader further underlined the necessity of stopping all covert and overt economic activities of such corrupt individuals as the ones involved in the recent bank scam. Ayatollah Khamenei further assured the Iranian people of the ruling system's resolve to confront and prevent similar economic corruption.