Reported by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Jan. 9, 2018 – On Tuesday, a group of former customers of the state-backed Caspian credit institution gathered in front of the offices of this organization in Rasht and held a demonstration. The demonstrators are protesting to the plundering of their investments, which have been absorbed by a large-scale fraud scam in which regime officials were involved.
“Death to the invisible hands behind Caspian,” “Death to the backstage mafia,” the protesters were chanting, a reference to corrupt regime officials who have enabled the fraud, have benefited from it and are preventing the perpetrators from being held to account. “Caspian has stolen [our savings] with the government’s support.”
“Our lifesavings have been stolen,” the protesters were shouting.
The protesters, who have been threatened and persecuted by security forces on several occasions, were also chanting “We will not stop until we reclaim our rights” and “Neither threats nor prison don’t frighten us anymore.”
Caspian is one of several credit institutions that in recent years have collectively stolen billions of dollars from the pockets of the Iranian people. These institutions, all owned and backed by government officials and agencies, had promised Iranian investors quick returns on their investments. But after amassing billions of dollars, they filed for bankruptcy and refused to refund the deposits of thousands of investors.
In the past year, protests similar to what took place in Rasht this have happened in many other Iranian cities. The protesters are demanding the refund of their deposits. In an attempt to control the situation, the Iranian regime has proceeded with printing excessive banknotes, but the measure has resulted in the increase of inflation and further driven the lives of the Iranian people into poverty.
The collapse of corrupt credit institutions has caused other damages. Last year, after its collpase, Vahdat, another institution involved in the fraud case, was disbanded by the Central Bank and merged into Melal Institute, another financial organization. As a result, more than 1,000 workers who were employed by Vahdat have been fired and haven’t been given proper employment by the new owners of their employer. This has caused further protests in various cities.
