Persian cut of Rouhani era
How managers of the largest steel producer in the Middle East MSC, led by CEO Azimyan, withdrew $3 billion for personal and state needs
The original of this material
© OCCRP25.08.2022, Iran’s largest steel company implicated in multi-billion dollar corruption scheme
Top managers of Iran’s largest steel company parasitized the country’s mining sector, organizing a multi-billion dollar corruption scheme based on fraud, bribery and money laundering.
According to the 296-page parliamentary reportfrom 2018 to 2021, the top managers of Mobarakeh Steel Company (MSC), abusing their powers, stole billions of dollars from the government and shareholders of the company.
As the Middle East and North Africa’s largest steel producer, MSC controls 3,000 plants and brought in almost 15 percent of the country’s revenue last year.
According to the report, the presence of such a huge industrial complex is due to the fact that Iranian ore reserves are estimated at about 57 billion tons – about seven percent of the world’s total. Iran exports metal to 38 countries of the world.
During a 19-month investigation into the MSC, a parliamentary committee uncovered evidence of several cases of massive fraud, nepotism and corruption, each resulting in hundreds of billions or even trillions of Iranian rials in losses.
The investigation revealed that top managers of the company used empty and fake contracts, and also entered into secret deals with national automakers: they sold surplus steel to them at below market prices.
MSC executives paid huge sums to hired close relatives and non-existent staff. At the same time, they themselves received astronomical salaries.
According to the report, top executives of the company, including CEO Hamidreza Azimyan, have attempted to launder illegal proceeds through questionable and improper spending of trillions of rials, including corporate bonuses, travel documents and fake government contracts.
Judging by the small part of the documents that came into the commission’s possession, the scammers did not think that the scheme would be revealed.
Although MSC is a private company, it is also a subsidiary of IMIDRO, an Iranian mine development and modernization organization. This is a large state corporation that controls the country’s mining sector.
It is likely that those involved in the corruption scandal will soon appear before a government committee to answer for their wrongdoings.
According to local mediaOn Saturday, the Tehran Stock Exchange suspended trading in MSC shares, and the chief executive of the exchange, Mahmoud Gudarzi, said that trading would not resume until the situation regarding financial fraud in MSC was clarified.
The parliament noted the need for stricter supervision in the Iranian mining sector: it is impossible for greed and corruption to deprive society of its benefits, as was the case with MSC.
@compromatru, 30.08.2022, 13:35: One of Iran’s largest profitable enterprises, Mobarakeh Steel Company, is experiencing a shake-up due to publications results of a parliamentary inquiry into $3 billion in corruption linked to the administration of former President Hassan Rouhani.
In their investigation, the investigation came to the largest steel producer in Iran and 1 percent of Iran’s GDP steel company Mobarakeh (in the city of Mobarak in the central province of Isfahan). The release of the report also comes at a time of an expected resumption of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that could end export sanctions imposed on the steel giant and other major industrial firms.
The 300-page investigation contained a number of scathing reports, many of which concerned the administration of Rouhani, a relatively moderate politician who served in office from 2013 to 2021.
The report is based on over 3000 documents and 1200 files. In particular, it alleges that high-ranking officials in the Rouhani government received illegal payments and interfered with the award of government contracts to the company. Huge sums from the company were paid to units of the Iranian armed forces, the regional police in the province of Isfahan and local religious leaders.
It also states that among the 90 violations found were illegal rent payments, payments to consultants not providing services to anyone, illegal transactions in the shares of subsidiaries, signing a bloated contract with an undisclosed Chinese company hired to build a steel rolling platform, but not meeting the qualification requirements.
The Investigative Committee also accused the company of making secret payments to Iran’s state television and radio company Broadcasting (IRIB) and disseminating information on social networks and the media in order to “create an atmosphere against this investigation.”
Mobarakeh Steel Company is a “semi-public” company, most of its shares are owned by government agencies, as well as various private and public joint stock companies. It employs about 350,000 people and its management is appointed by the government. The damage from the alleged corrupt practices amounted to about a third of the company’s value, estimated at $10 billion. — Inset K.ru
