Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, July 8, 2019 – On June 20, Alireza Zakani, member of the Majlis (parliament), spoke to the state-run Channel 3 about the discovery of a $25-million embezzlement case in an Iranian oil company. "I believe that $25 million is very small. Come on! You call this money?" Zakani said, adding that he knows of other cases where the amount of stolen money is much larger.
The latest embezzlement case involved a financial executive in the oil ministry who was arrested while leaving the country with $25 million. However, what is shocking is that this regime MP finds this unimportant and even calls it a "small amount."
Interestingly, this same amount equates to the yearly salary of more than 18,000 Iranian workers or 11,000 experienced teachers.
In his comments, Zakani mentioned one of the cases which he acknowledges as an acceptable amount. "Regarding the trade deal with the Brazilians, we lost $72 billion worth of profits in a single joint project with the UAE," he said.
To put that in perspective, $72 billion is equal to three-and-half years of pay for all 14 million workers in Iran.
In the past years alone, many embezzlement cases involving regime officials and institutions have taken away billions of dollars from Iran's wealth. One case that continues to trigger protests across Iran is the "disappearance" of billions of dollars' worth of investor money from regime-backed financial institutions. Every day, the customers of these companies, who in some cases have lost their life savings, gather to protest in front of the branches of the companies and government institutions. Other cases are the sultans of coin, oil, and bitumen, government-linked individuals who have stolen billions of dollars from Iran's natural resources with the help of regime officials.
Therefore, it is only fair to say that Zakani is right in his comments that $25 million does not compare to the stellar amounts of wealth that his regime is either stealing out of the people's pockets or destroying in failed trade deals.
