TEHRAN // Iran’s billionaire tycoon Babak Zanjani was sentenced to death for corruption on Sunday, after a long trial in which he was accused of fraudulently pocketing US$2.8 billion (Dh10.3bn).
Zanjani became notorious during the era of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, finding ways to channel hard currency from oil sales to Tehran despite financial sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic’s banks as punishment for its nuclear programme.
The 41-year-old was convicted of fraud and economic crimes, and besides facing the death penalty he must repay money to the state, said judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejeie.
The trial was held in public, a rarity for such a major case in Iran, and two other accused were also convicted of “corruption on earth” – the most serious offence under the country’s criminal code, which warrants the death penalty.
“The preliminary court has sentenced these three defendants to be executed, as well as paying restitution to the plaintiff,” Mr Mohseni-Ejeie said, adding that the plaintiff was the oil ministry.
Zanjani was arrested in 2013 during a crackdown on alleged corruption during the rule of Mr Ahmadinejad. Iran’s oil ministry says he owes $2.8bn for oil sales he made from the state-run National Iranian Oil company, according to state media.
The billionaire, who can appeal, has denied any wrongdoing. He insists that the only reason the money had not been paid to the oil ministry was that sanctions had prevented a planned transfer from taking place. Zanjani had repeatedly told media that in return for commissions paid by Mr Ahmadinejad’s government, he was tasked with circumventing sanctions to get money back to Iran.
However, the case follows repeated declarations from the current government of president Hassan Rouhani that corruption and the payment of illegal commissions thrived under Mr Ahmadinejad’s rule. Other trials are ongoing.
He was known to have good contacts with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and the decision marks a political and economic “confrontation” within Iran’s political establishment between the legacy of Ahmadinejad and the new era of Rouhani, said Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor of Middle Eastern politics who studies Iran at Qatar University in Doha.
Mr Rouhani’s government wants to show Iranians as well as foreigners that it is committed to tackling corruption as the nation opens up economically, Mr Zweiri said.
In October last year, however, Mr Rouhani’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh signalled the shifting political balance in Iran, hitting out at the use of middlemen such as Zanjani, who before being arrested had boasted of a personal wealth which Iranian media put as $13.5 billion.
Speaking after Iran concluded a nuclear deal with world powers, which paved the way for increased foreign activity in Iran’s oil sector, Mr Zanganeh urged investors to deal directly with his ministry and avoid third parties.
“We despise the corrupt parasites that want to suck the nation’s blood even in this situation,” Mr Zanganeh said, to loud applause at an oil and energy industry event in the capital while Zanjani’s trial was under way.
Zanjani was among Iranian individuals blacklisted under US and European sanctions.
* Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting from Associated Press and Bloomberg
