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IRAN: MAIN CONVICT IN BIGGEST BANKING FRAUD HANGED IN TEHRAN
May 24, 2014: Iran hanged the first of four men sentenced to death for a massive financial scam that tainted the government of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran’s Public Prosecutor’s Office said.
Mehafarid Amir-Khosravi, described as a self-made tycoon, was hanged in Tehran's Evin Prison after the Supreme Court upheld the four death sentences, the reports said. There was no word on the fate of the other three.
Exposed in 2011, the 30 trillion-rial ($2.7 billion) scandal involved embezzlement, bribery, forgery and money-laundering in 14 state-owned and private banks between 2007 and 2010 by people close to the political elite.
Ahmadinejad's supporters said he had nothing to do with the crime and blamed his political enemies for using it to ensure his allies had no chance in last year's presidential election. In March, Ahmadinejad's former vice president, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, was indicted in connection with the case.
Chief Prosecutor Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said that, besides the four death penalties, 33 senior bureaucrats and bankers had been given long prison sentences, including two for life. (Sources: Reuters, 25/05/2014)
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