The Return of the Man Always in the Shadow of the Economy
According to Iran Gate, in October 2009, Hamid Pourmohammadi was appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. At that time, Pourmohammadi was referred to with titles such as the main architect of the banking ideas of the conservative government and the man in the shadow of the Central Bank.
On Sunday, August 5, 2024, President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Seyed Hamid Pourmohammadi as the head of the Planning and Budget Organization. Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of the fourteenth government, appointed Hamid Pourmohammadi to the position of head of the country’s Planning and Budget Organization.
Education and Executive Background of Hamid Pourmohammadi
Hamid Pourmohammadi was born in 1967 and holds a Ph.D. in Economic Sciences from the University of Tehran. He began his first activity in 1989 as a legal expert in the Deputy General Directorate of the Ministry of Construction Jihad, Organization of Nomadic Affairs. Throughout his career, he has held positions such as Deputy for Planning and Administrative and Financial Affairs of the Governor of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, CEO of the Shahed Investment Company of the Martyrs Foundation of the Islamic Revolution, and Deputy for Banking, Insurance, and State-Owned Companies Affairs of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance.
However, his most important responsibility can be considered as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran during the presidency of Mahmoud Bahmani and the Senior Advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank in 2008 during the tenure of Tahmasb Mazaheri. He was also the Deputy for Banking, Insurance, and State-Owned Companies Affairs of the Minister of Economy and Finance from 2004 during the tenure of Seyed Safdar Hosseini, Davood Danesh Jafari, and Shamseddin Hosseini.
Hamid Pourmohammadi, the Main Architect of the Banking Ideas of the Conservative Government
Perhaps the 2000s can be considered the peak of Pourmohammadi’s career. From 2004 to May 2008, he was appointed as the Deputy for Banking, Insurance, and State-Owned Companies Affairs of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance. In the first government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, after Danesh Jafari resigned from his position as Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance and during the three-month interim period of Hossein Samsami in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, he was dismissed from his position. However, following this action, Tahmasb Mazaheri, the Governor of the Central Bank, immediately appointed Seyed Hamid Pourmohammadi as his Senior Advisor in this bank.
In October 2009, Pourmohammadi was also appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. At that time, Pourmohammadi was referred to with titles such as the main architect of the banking ideas of the conservative government and the man in the shadow of the Central Bank because, according to some experts, he played the main role in managing the country’s monetary network.
Hamid Pourmohammadi, a Strong Opponent of the State Banks Merger Plan
One of Pourmohammadi’s controversial actions can be considered his opposition to the bank merger plan proposed during Samsami’s interim period. Although his opposition led to his dismissal from the Ministry of Economy, after Samsami was not introduced to the parliament for the position of Minister of Economy, Pourmohammadi returned to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance by invitation and order of the President and the decree of the new Minister of Economy, Shamseddin Hosseini.
He was also among the critics of the allocation of the 4,200 Toman currency in his position as the Deputy for Economic Affairs of the Planning and Budget Organization. A few months before the removal of the 4,200 Toman currency and the implementation of the so-called economic surgery program, he announced that by continuing the 4,200 Toman currency policy, the government would buy currency for essential goods from the NIMA system, which would lead to money printing and impose inflation on the people.
The Story of the 3,000 Billion Toman Embezzlement Case Involving Hamid Pourmohammadi
In early November 2011, during a judicial case known as the 3,000 billion Toman embezzlement, Hamid Pourmohammadi was arrested for a period but was released on December 19 of the same year on a bail of 500 million Rials. The 3,000 billion Toman financial corruption case was related to the accusations against an individual named Mah Afarid Amir Khosravi, owner of the Amir Mansour Aria Group, who reportedly managed to embezzle 3,000 billion Tomans or 2,800 billion Tomans through opening letters of credit in Iran’s banking networks.
Mr. Pourmohammadi’s name first came up in connection with the 3,000 billion Toman embezzlement case in September 2011, when he was accused by Ahmad Tavakoli of lying about his educational qualifications and a lack of oversight over the banks. Tavakoli in his remarks even involved the then-President and said when unqualified and incompetent individuals are appointed with the support of the President’s office, the result is this. We say that when incompetent individuals are in charge and individuals with issues are supported by the President’s office, and Mr. Mashaei supports them, and Mr. Ahmadinejad agrees with these actions, they naturally make the system prone to corruption.
Hamid Pourmohammadi’s arrest provoked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s protest to the extent that he openly criticized his arrest and said why are you taking revenge on the nation? Arrest and prosecute those who gave bribes and committed violations and had influential support, why did you arrest the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank?
In June 2014, the Entekhab website published an article criticizing the continued presence of Hamid Pourmohammadi in the Strategic Deputy of the Presidency, but after reviewing the documents, they realized their mistake and, after removing the news from the site’s front page, officially apologized to Hamid Pourmohammadi. The article stated that based on reports from the country’s supervisory and security agencies and other important related centers, Seyed Hamid Pourmohammadi was innocent in the 3,000 billion Toman banking corruption case and even some reports mentioned his role in countering the embezzlement stream.
Hamid Pourmohammadi, the Manager Who Manages from Prison
In December 2011, despite several months passing since the arrest of the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank and Bahmani’s promise to appoint a replacement, Hamid Pourmohammadi’s name was still listed as the Deputy Governor on the Central Bank’s website. At that time, the Fars News Agency criticized Mahmoud Bahmani, the Governor of the Central Bank, for not appointing a replacement and wrote in an article that Hamid Pourmohammadi, the then Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, was one of the accused in the large embezzlement case and was in detention, and according to Mahmoud Bahmani, the Governor of the Central Bank, a replacement was supposed to be selected and introduced soon. However, no replacement had yet been chosen, and apparently, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank was managing the bank from prison.
Pourmohammadi and the Central Bank Governorship, a Rumor That Was Denied
In the midst of addressing his charges in January 2013, Pourmohammadi was appointed as the Deputy for Planning of this deputy by the then Vice President for Planning and Strategic Supervision and received a medal of merit. After the start of Hassan Rouhani’s government, Nobakht, Rouhani’s Planning Deputy, retained Pourmohammadi and gave him several other important positions.
In 2021, when Abdolnaser Hemmati resigned from his position as Governor of the Central Bank to participate in the thirteenth presidential election, there was a rumor that Pourmohammadi had taken the helm of the Central Bank, which was denied by his office in the Planning Organization shortly after.