The Corruption That Melts Stone in Chadormalu
Behind the Scenes of Chadormalu’s Stone Purchases: Billion-Dollar Contracts, Family Ties, and Unanswered Questions
Hamidreza Aref, the son of the First Vice President, currently has significant control over this large national enterprise, but not for the benefit of the people—rather for his own interests. The Iran Gate News Agency’s report focuses on a case of corruption in this major national and economic entity.
The documents available depict a network of stone purchase contracts for Chadormalu Company, contracts that, according to informed sources, are only a part of dozens of similar contracts in recent years. Among these documents, there is a contract for the purchase of 300,000 tons of stone, with an estimated value of about 15 trillion tomans.
What distinguishes this contract from a typical transaction is not merely its volume or financial value, but the identity of the contracting party. According to the provided documents and information, this contract belongs to the brother of Esmaeil Dehestani, the political deputy governor of Yazd.
This is not the only question arising from the documents. The main question is how the process of selecting stone sellers for Chadormalu is conducted and who has access to this multi-trillion toman market.
According to informed sources, a significant portion of the stone sellers to Chadormalu are either beneficiaries themselves or connected to a circle of managers and political figures from Yazd province, and even some influential individuals at the national level. If these claims are true, the issue is not just a single contract but the mechanism of supplier selection and the potential for conflicts of interest in one of the largest raw material procurement chains in the country.
The examined case is noteworthy from this perspective as well. Based on available information, the contracting party is from the village of Benestan, a district of Bahabad County in Yazd province. The question arises as to how a seller manages to secure a contract worth approximately 15 trillion tomans with one of the country’s largest mining companies. Was this contract the result of open competition and a transparent process, or did other factors play a role in the seller’s selection?
According to the provided information, the typical stone purchase process in Chadormalu begins with sample submission. The samples are evaluated at the mine, and if the technical specifications are approved, the purchase contract is concluded. However, informed sources claim that final approval and decision-making regarding purchases are not possible without the opinion of senior commercial managers.
In this context, the name Ali Nasiri, the commercial deputy of Chadormalu, is mentioned more than other managers. According to these sources, almost no stone purchase is made without his approval or coordination, and the management of the stone supply process is practically in his hands. This claim requires a thorough examination of the company’s documentation and internal processes.
Alongside Ali Nasiri, Farid Dehghani is also mentioned as one of the influential managers in the stone purchase decision-making structure. Additionally, sources claim that Farid Dehghani’s brother has acted as an intermediary in stone purchases, and a significant portion of Chadormalu’s purchases last year were conducted through him. If this claim is true, examining the existence or absence of conflicts of interest and adherence to corporate governance principles becomes particularly important.
Simultaneously, the company’s financial performance has raised new questions. Financial statements show that Chadormalu’s net profit in the first quarter of this year has decreased by about 19% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, some peer companies, including Golgohar, have experienced different performance. Determining how much of this profit decline is related to purchasing policies, raw material prices, or other economic factors is a subject that requires an independent expert review.
In addition to all these issues, Hamid Aref’s name has also been mentioned in the provided information, and it is claimed that these trends have continued with his support. This claim, like the others, requires examination of documents and investigations by oversight bodies, and without official scrutiny, no definitive conclusions can be drawn.
The collection of these documents and claims presents a set of important questions to oversight bodies: How is the process of selecting stone sellers in Chadormalu conducted? What is the relationship between some sellers and managers or political officials? Have all contracts been concluded through competitive and transparent means, and is there a possibility of conflicts of interest or the exploitation of affiliated individuals from multi-trillion toman contracts?
