Raisi Supports Corrupt Minister
Raisi Supports Corrupt Minister; Minister of Raisi Convicted with Corruption Charges
Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of the judiciary, announced yesterday during a meeting with students at Yasuj University that Seyed Javad Sadatinejad, the former Minister of Agriculture, has been sentenced to three years in prison. He also stated that eight other people have been convicted in this case and have requested Article 477, a provision in the Criminal Procedure Code that allows the head of the judiciary to send the case to the Supreme Court for retrial if he finds the final verdict issued by any judicial authority contrary to clear religious law.
The mentioned special branches, based on the declaration of being contrary to clear religious law, annul the previous final verdict and conduct a new trial, both procedurally and substantively, and issue an appropriate verdict. However, Ejei did not mention the names of the other 8 individuals.
Nevertheless, the most important point in Ejei’s remarks was the conviction of one of the highest government officials, namely a former minister of a government, for corruption. Sadatinejad, a former parliament representative and Minister of Agriculture of the thirteenth government, holds a PhD in Hydraulics and Hydrology Engineering from Moscow State University. He was introduced to the parliament as the proposed Minister of Agriculture by Ebrahim Raisi’s government on August 11, 2021, and on September 3, 2021, he received a vote of confidence from the parliament with 253 votes in favor, 27 votes against, and 4 abstentions.
He is from Kashan and has also served in the tenth and eleventh parliaments as the representative of Kashan and Aran and Bidgol. His name has long been associated with large-scale corruption cases, including the 1,100 billion toman corruption in the animal feed case and the 140 trillion toman corruption in the Debsh Tea case. He was dismissed, and his dismissal was announced as a resignation.
Comprehensive Support of the Thirteenth Government for the Misconduct Minister
Simultaneously with his dismissal, there were rumors about his arrest due to economic corruption. Interestingly, Ali Bahadori Jahromi, the government spokesperson, reacted to these rumors by supporting him, saying that Mr. Sadatinejad resigned and his resignation was accepted. Currently, one of his former deputies is acting as the head of the ministry.
What is being said is a rumor and is not true, and it should not be paid attention to. The government is currently using his assistance and will have collaborations in the future.
Bahadori Jahromi was also tasked with supporting the misconduct Minister of Agriculture in another instance, claiming that Sadatinejad’s management in the field of food management prevented the country from facing problems in this area. However, based on evaluations, the president decided to make a managerial change in this area.
In one instance, even Mansouri, Raisi’s executive deputy, thanked Sadatinejad, the impeached and misconduct minister, in a meeting.
Part of Raisi’s support for Sadatinejad, however, was related to the Debsh Tea case, meaning that despite Ebrahim Raisi’s claim of dismissing 60 people over the Debsh Tea incident, Ejei announced that the names of these individuals had not been submitted to the judiciary.
He emphasized once again on December 7 of last year in a meeting with students that no misconduct government manager has been introduced to us regarding the Debsh Tea case.
The silence or support of Raisi’s government for the former Minister of Agriculture reached a point where Gholamali Jafarzadeh Emenabadi, a former parliament representative, reacted by saying, ‘I wish Mr. Raisi had bravely said why Mr. Sadatinejad was dismissed and removed for creating what problems in the Ministry of Agriculture.’
Why is Mr. Sadatinejad’s court ruling being forgiven? Why is the result of his court kept hidden? Mr. Raisi has misunderstood and wants to say that there is no corruption happening in my government.
It was in March 2023 for the first time that news of Sadatinejad’s final verdict was published, a verdict issued in December simultaneously with his qualification confirmation to compete for a parliamentary seat. According to this verdict, he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and a three-year ban from government services or employment.
It is not far-fetched to say that Sadatinejad’s three-year imprisonment sentence cannot be related to the two financial corruption cases, and it seems that this verdict was only issued in connection with the animal feed case, and there is no news about the fate of the Debsh Tea case and the role of Sadatinejad and other individuals under him in this unprecedented financial corruption.
The former Minister of Agriculture and former head of the Agriculture Commission of the parliament, whom some accuse of abusing his position in parliament, had promised during his tenure to bring the country to food sovereignty in the Middle East.
From University Presidency to Ministerial Position
A political activist who wishes to remain anonymous tells Ham-Mihan that in 2005, Sadatinejad was the deputy of Shahrekord University. His brothers also hold positions; for example, one is a cleric and an official at one of Tehran’s universities, and another owns the Seraaj newspaper. His other brothers also have positions.
This informed source, quoting a university official from Khatami’s government, states that Sadatinejad, during the first round of the ninth presidential election, was in charge of the academic supporters of Hashemi, but in the second round, when he felt Hashemi had no chance, he was active in Ahmadinejad’s academic supporters’ headquarters. He was appointed as the president of Kashan University in Ahmadinejad’s government.
He emphasizes that Kashan University is one of the leading reformist universities in the country, which faced many challenges during Sadatinejad’s presidency, such as the closure of the Islamic Association and the expulsion and non-renewal of contracts with protesting professors, some of whom were members of the Coordination Council of Reforms.
Sadatinejad’s presidency at Kashan University continued until 2011, when during Farhad Rahbar’s presidency at Tehran University, he was assigned the position of administrative and financial management of this university.
However, this individual’s rise continued, and Sadatinejad was appointed as the parliamentary deputy of the Ministry of Science during Kamran Daneshjoo’s tenure as Minister of Science.
This political activist further comments on the political activities of the former parliament representative, stating that during the tenth parliamentary election, while the central conservative council was inclined to support Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri Abyaneh, the Kashan conservative council decided to support Sadatinejad, and this individual, using his connections in Kashan, outpaced others and became the conservative front’s candidate in this area, ultimately winning votes.
Events During His Tenure
This individual emphasizes that during Isa Kalantari’s presidency of the Environmental Organization, he realized that the number of requests for mining permits in Isfahan Province, particularly in Kashan and Aran and Bidgol counties, had significantly increased. Kalantari investigated the matter and discovered that Sadatinejad was the representative of the Isfahan Province representatives’ assembly in the provincial mining allocation committee. It was in that committee and at that time that such actions occurred.
Also, during Sadatinejad’s representation, a permit was issued for the construction of a steel plant on the outskirts of Kashan city and the Maranjab Desert, a permit that did not consider environmental appendices and inquiries. Sadatinejad and his colleagues also intended to establish a lead factory without environmental and provincial security council inquiries, which was halted due to public protests.
This informed source also speaks about his activities to gain the presidency of the Agriculture Commission of the parliament, stating that in the first year of the eleventh parliament, the media reported that several clerics without specialization were members of the Agriculture Commission, which was actually a tactic to have Sadatinejad elected as the head of the Agriculture Commission.
He delivered a very harsh speech against Rouhani during the 2017 presidential election in Kashan, a topic that this political activist refers to, continuing that at that time, his friends were active in Raisi’s campaign headquarters. In any case, after Raisi’s election, he managed to have his desired individual appointed as the governor of Kashan by pressuring the governor and the Minister of Interior, a weak individual whom he could dominate.
This informed source says, ‘Kazemini, the deputy minister of agriculture, told me that Raisi intended to introduce another individual until the last days.’
But we succeeded in introducing Sadatinejad through our connections. In the shadow of negligence in the ministry under Sadatinejad’s control, a major and regrettable event occurred, meaning that he injected non-expert individuals from outside the ministry into this organization’s body. Changes during his time were widespread and connection-based, and managers were frequently changed.
For example, during his two years as minister, a deputy minister was changed several times, which caused significant tension within the ministry. Conditions were such that an experienced expert with a high educational degree had to work under someone who had no knowledge of their field of work.
These were the calamities we witnessed during Sadatinejad’s tenure at the Ministry of Agriculture.