Iran sets up teams to assist bank scam prosecutor

Deputy Head of the Iranian Judiciary Seyed Ebrahim Reyeesi stressed the necessity of serious punishments for those guilty in the recent bank scam, and said the country's officials have appointed more teams of experts to assist the prosecutor in the case."A group of experts and auditors in the form of a number of teams are assisting the prosecutor in this case to deal with its different aspects," Reyeesi told reporters on Sunday. He underlined that the Judiciary is firmly resolved to punish those responsible in the case, including the fugitive chief of Bank Melli Mahmoud Reza Khavari, who handed his resignation to the Economy Ministry late September and fled the country to Canada. Reyeesi stressed that the Iranian Judiciary can easily extradite Khavari to Iran with the help of the Interpol to stand trial but the best way for him is to return to the country voluntarily. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has recently called the state and judiciary officials to give a serious punishment to those guilty in the recent bank scam, and blamed the country's officials for their lack of diligence in preventing the case."Although authorities welcomed confrontation against economic corruption, but if action had been taken on my advice, we would have never been afflicted with such incidents as the recent corruption in the banking system," the Leader said, addressing a meeting with cultural and executive staff and personnel of Hajj in Tehran earlier this month. Ten years ago, the Leader had made a series of recommendations for the country's officials requiring them to launch a tough combat on economic corruption. The Leader further underlined the necessity of stopping all covert and overt economic activities of such corrupt individuals as the ones involved in the recent bank scam. The $2.8 billion embezzlement scandal involving seven government-owned and private banks, which had used fraudulent Saderat Bank documents to secure multi-billion dollar credit and purchase state-owned companies, was recently uncovered. Iran's Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani has appointed Prosecutor General Hojjatoleslam Gholam- Hossein Mohseni Ejeii to investigate the case. On September 27, Mohseni Ejeii announced that 22 people had been arrested in connection with the case and that the exact nature of the fraud is still under investigation. Mohseni Ejeii announced last week that a dozen more suspects have been detained in a second wave of arrests. According to the Prosecutor General, necessary measures have been taken to prevent the criminals from leaving the country or transferring money to offshore accounts.