The First Deputy of the Judiciary resigned due to corruption.
Yesterday, the First Deputy of the Judiciary resigned from his position, and this resignation was accepted by the head of the Judiciary. This resignation followed the trial of the sons of Mohammad Mosaddegh Kahnemouei on charges of corruption. It would not be incorrect to say that this is the first time a high-ranking official has resigned after the corruption of their children became public. However, Mosaddegh’s action has been met with positive reactions from the public.
This is not the first time that the children of senior officials have engaged in financial corruption, embezzlement, or money laundering due to their parents’ positions and status, and it certainly won’t be the last. Some of these corruptions have been proven, while others may be unprovable. Nevertheless, since the 1990s, people like Shabnam Nematzadeh, daughter of Mohammadreza Nematzadeh, Mehdi Akhoundi, son of Abbas Akhoundi, Mehdi Mirsalim, son of Mostafa Mirsalim, Ammar Salehi, son of Ataollah, former army commander, and Yasin Ramin, son of Mohammad Ali Ramin, have been sentenced to prison.
Mohammad Mosaddegh Kahnemouei, who was appointed as the First Deputy of the Judiciary on July 13, 2021, stepped down from his position on March 14. He has held positions such as the First Deputy Attorney General during Amoli Larijani’s presidency, Legal Deputy of the Judiciary, and President of the Administrative Justice Court during Raisi’s presidency of the Judiciary. In his resignation letter, he stated that since the beginning of the case against his sons, he has had no contact with anyone involved in the case, including judges and court officials. He also thanked the head of the Judiciary and emphasized that he always considers himself a humble servant of the system and leadership, standing firm for the ideals of the Islamic Revolution.
Mohseni Eje’i, the head of the Judiciary, also accepted this resignation request, writing that although your presence in this position has had no influence on the mentioned case and will not have any, your request and the points you raised have been considered, and your resignation is accepted. It is said that this resignation was made to prevent any suspicion of influence or interference in the ongoing case and to prevent misuse by adversaries and ill-wishers.
A look at the case of Mosaddegh’s children
In September of this year, news about the arrest of two children of a senior Judiciary official due to financial corruption was published on social media. Initially, officials did not react to this news, but eventually, the Mehr News Agency confirmed it. According to this news, two sons of Mohammad Mosaddegh Kahnemouei, the First Deputy of the Judiciary and a trusted judge of three Judiciary heads, were arrested as suspects in a 20 trillion toman corruption case involving Mohammad Rostami Safa, the owner of the Rostami Safa Industrial Group. It was said that the sons of Mohammad Mosaddegh Kahnemouei had interacted with a group of economic corrupt individuals.
On October 4 of this year, Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi confirmed this matter without mentioning Mosaddegh’s name and announced that a case had been formed and would be pursued seriously and without any discrimination. In a press conference on October 10, he confirmed that they are the children of the First Deputy of the Judiciary and reported that the case is under preliminary investigation.
As reported, the first court session to address the charges against the children of the First Deputy of the Judiciary and other individuals was held on March 5, 2024, at the special judicial complex for economic crimes, and part of the indictment was read. The second and third court sessions were also held on March 6, 2024, and these sessions will continue.
The Rostami Safa Group case
The case of the Rostami Safa Group involves a major debtor in the non-governmental sector, which from 2003 to 2013, through the formation of multiple companies, received large foreign and domestic loans for production and import from Parsian, Melli, Sepah, Export Development, and Commerce banks and transferred a significant portion of these loans abroad.
Mohammad Rostami Safa, the main suspect, was pursued criminally since 2020 for failing to repay loans within the deadline and failing to repay debts after legal actions by creditors, and due to multiple violations with complaints from creditor banks. According to the prosecutor’s representative, this group, by forming an illegal office, received funds to secure favorable verdicts for the accused in court, and in this case, the misuse of the name of their father by the children of the First Deputy of the Judiciary is evident.
The peak of this group’s activities in the past four years relates to two cases: the evacuation of the Shahid Gheitariyeh Sports Complex and a major banking debtor named Mohammad Rostami Safa. The group formed has gained about 200 billion tomans of illicit wealth in the Rostami Safa case alone, and the funds received have been laundered into properties, luxury cars, villas, and other items. The role of Mosaddegh’s children in this case was that they interacted with a group of economic corrupt individuals whose cases were under their father’s jurisdiction in the Judiciary to influence the investigation process of this case.