Looting of National Assets through Auction Tricks
Seyed Abdolreza Mousavi, Heir to the Assets of the Executed and the Octopus of Khuzestan’s Rentier Economy: How Seyed Abdolreza Mousavi, owner of Zagros Airlines, transformed from a former military officer to one of Iran’s wealthiest figures is a question buried in a complex network of sham auctions and the swallowing of confiscated assets. He is accused of seizing a large portion of the assets of Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, the executed defendant of the 3 trillion toman corruption case, including the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group, through suspicious auctions with engineered prices. The transfer of this industrial giant to Mousavi in November 2017, previously owned by Bank Melli, is a clear example of privatization that led to labor crises and months of delayed wages for 4,000 workers. Another layer of this corruption is systematic money laundering, where Mousavi is accused of depositing 150 billion tomans under the guise of the paper company Payapishdad Kish to erase traces of his suspicious wealth. With deceptive maneuvers, he has not only looted the assets of private plaintiffs but has also turned confiscated mining devices, entrusted to him, into a personal cryptocurrency mining factory. While he makes headlines with astronomical offers to footballers, Zagros passengers fly on planes kept operational with cannibalized scrap parts. It is time for the judiciary to answer why the assets of an executed economic criminal, Mahafarid, have ended up with someone who amasses wealth with shell companies and confiscated miners instead of returning to the public treasury. Transparency in the National Steel Group cases and the suspicious 150 billion tomans is the first step to dismantling this rentier empire. But how can the supervisory and judicial bodies be unaware of this extent of corruption? What is their inherent duty if not to address corruption and discrimination, which are serious causes of dissatisfaction? So, when will it be time to confront this ominous phenomenon?