Analysis by MPOI/MEK
Iran, Nov. 11, 2018 – 10 financial institutions affiliated with the supreme leader of the Iranian regime have been offered exemptions from taxes. The institutions include the following:
- The Mostazafan Foundation (The Foundation of the Poor)
- Setade Ejrae Farman-e Emam (Headquarters of Implementing the Orders of Imam)
- Shahid Foundation (Martyr Foundation)
- Emdad Committee (Relief Committee)
- Sazmane Tablighat Eslami (The Islamic Publicity Organization)
- The Office of Publicity of Qom
- Bonyade Maskan (Housing Foundation)
- Center for Seminary Services
- The Mostafa AlAlamiyeh Cultural and Social Research Institution
Out of the 10 abovementioned institutions, which are closely affiliated with the office of Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Iranian regime, seven of them have received a 70-billion-rial budget (approx. $470 million) from the government.
In recent years, the issue of the unpaid taxes of Khamenei-affiliated institutions has incited many protests. Some of these institutions, including the Bonyad-e Mostazafan and the Astan Quds Foundation, have declared that they will pay taxes on their gains. But critics say that producers will eventually take these taxes from their customers, so it’s different from the income taxes that all other people and organizations pay.
Khamenei’s economic empire
In the past years, Ali Khamenei uses his special privileges to create a huge economic expanse for himself. The profiles and outfits that he controls are beyond any form of regulation and government oversight.
Consider just one of the institutions that Khamenei controls: The Bonyad-e Mostazafan.
Founded shortly after the 1979 revolution, Bonyad-e Mostazafan took control of assets of Shah’s family and his regime’s affiliates. It became the owner of thousands of houses, housing complexes, villas, agricultural lands, gardens, mansions, factories, commercial outfits, and bank accounts. The full extent of the value of its assets and its income has never been disclosed.
During the era of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, and Khamenei, the information of the Bonyad-e Mostazafan was kept undisclosed under the pretext of being part of the “secrets of beit-e rahbar” (the leader’s house). No one knows about its expenses and income.
Some of the subsets of Bonyad-e Mostazafan include the following:
- Bonyade Alavi
- Sina Insurance
- The Organization of Agriculture and Livestock
- Persepolis Aviation and Tourism Company
- Zamzam Company
- Iran Meat Company
- Pak Dairy Company
These are just a few of the subsets of the Bonyad, all of which are large companies. They are all operating under the radar, filling the pockets of the Iranian regime’s highest officials and funding its illicit activities while the lives of the Iranian people continue to plunge into poverty and misery.
Another one of Khamenei’s personal funds, the “Setad-e Ejrae Farman-e Emam” was discovered to have billions of dollars’ worth of assets. In 2010, an in-depth report by Reuters evaluated the Setad’s assets at around $95 billion.
