Iran’s latest embezzlement case of 920 trillion rials involving the state-run Isfahan Mobarakeh Steel Company has once again shocked the country’s poverty-riddled population. This amounts to around $5.25 billion at the time of the reported embezzlement.
The Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) temporarily suspended the Mobarakeh Steel Company following a damning report released last Thursday, August 18, over the massive case of corruption. Having an estimated value of nearly 2,940 trillion rials (around $10 billion in the current exchange rate), Mobarakeh Steel is registered as the second largest company in TSE.
Mobarakeh Steel, located in Isfahan province of central Iran, is the largest steel produce in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This embezzlement case has unveiled enormous corruption and mismanagement. The company’s revenues totaled nearly 15 percent of the regime’s budget last year, according to a 300-page report released by the mullahs’ Majlis (parliament).
Enormous amounts were transferred by the Mobarakeh Steel Co. officials to different state entities, including the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Ministry of Intelligence & Security (MOIS), state police, the state broadcaster “Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting” (IRIB), the offices of Friday prayer imams, seminaries and different religious centers. Mobarakeh officials also bribed certain media outlets, individuals, and social media influencers.
Mobarakeh was also deeply involved in special deals with Saipa and Iran Khodro, two state-owned car manufacturers that are also become notorious for their financial corruption.
The list reportedly includes officials linked to the regime’s senior religious officials, state media such as Kayhan daily, known as the mouthpiece of regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. A number of so-called journalists and newspaper publishers also reportedly received such bribes.
The Mobarakeh Steel Company controls around 1 percent of Iran’s GDP and employs around 350,000 people directly or through contractors. Over 2,800 other large and small enterprises across the country are dependent on the Mobarakeh Steel Company.
“Mobarakeh Steel is a private entity in name only”
In reality, it is better described a quasi-state company with most of its shares owned by the regime’s Mines and Mineral Industries Development and Renovation Organization, different public and private joint stock companies, and quasi-state banks. The management of the Mobarakeh Steel Company is appointed by senior regime officials, including the president’s chief of staff, first vice president, and the minister of industries, mines, and trade.
The company was handing out millions of dollars in bonuses and salaries to its former CEO and so-called “advisors” that weren’t even based in Isfahan. In making deals, the company played favorites with people with close ties to senior regime officials, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
The regime in Iran received a score of 25 points out of 100 on the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reported by Transparency International, dropping five points since 2017. The regime’s now ranks among the world’s very corrupt countries including Guatemala, Guinea, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Laos, and Paraguay.
Iran has become a major hub for corruption especially due to the absence of supervisory bodies, free media, and an independent judiciary. Much of the money flow from Mobarakeh Steel Co. to various ends have not been registered anywhere, according to various reports. There are also claims that even some Twitter influencers were paid to deny any reports about financial corruption in the mullahs’ regime.
To understand the scale of corruption at Mobarakeh, which is one of many companies through which the regime is stealing Iran’s wealth, it is worth reviewing what 920 trillion rials is worth:
- Three months’ salaries of government employees across Iran
- Ten percent of Iran’s entire oil revenue in 2021
- More than government cash handouts in 2021
- More than twice the construction budget of 31 provinces in 2021
- Twice the budget of Tehran province in 2021
Following the news, regime president Ebrahim Raisi, who at the time of events was the judiciary chief, quickly claimed that this is an isolated corruption case and that the Islamic Republic is devoid of systemic corruption, a claim that Khamenei has also made in the past. But these claims are becoming increasingly ridiculous as new aspects of government corruption become evident every day.
Iran is a country where more and more people are resorting to searching in the trash for something to sell, or even eat, due to rising poverty. More children are seen in the streets working as child laborers to help their families make ends meet. All while they should be in school and enjoying their childhood. A country where people’s living conditions are so poor that the majority of the 85 million population can no longer afford adequate, if any, medical care. However, Iran is a country ruled by a regime that cares nothing about its population, other than containing it from launching nationwide protests.
