The Shadow of the Essential Goods Mafia in the First Vice President’s Office
The country has long been under the shadow of war, but another war is also underway, a war by some privileged individuals and rent-seekers against the livelihood and tables of the people.
Saeed Aghanji, editor-in-chief of Iran Gate News Agency and an investigative journalist in the field of corruption, has now delved into a new case. He talks about a mafia that, through rent-seeking and corruption, has monopolized the supply of essential and strategic goods for years.
Aghanji has obtained documents showing that one of the main factors behind the shortage of essential goods in the country and the failure to return hundreds of millions of dollars from exports is none other than the Modarres family, a family that has complete control over the supply of oilcake and oilseeds. This family deliberately obstructed the import of essential goods to cause price increases.
Aghanji, by introducing one of the Modarres family’s intermediaries, Ahmad Torknejad, who is close to Aref, the First Vice President, has unveiled systematic and directed corruption. Torknejad, who secured a consultancy position in the Pezeshkian government with Aref’s support, is now engaged in lobbying for the Modarres family. Aghanji has found clues to the appointment of individuals connected to the economic mafia in the government, who succeeded in occupying sensitive governmental positions, in the office of the First Vice President and his son Hamidreza Aref.
The controversies surrounding the First Vice President of the Pezeshkian government seem unending, as the arrest of two members of Aref’s office, who were supported by his son Hamid Aref, was recently resolved with the resignation of a member of his office, mediated by the First Vice President.
Aghanji has promised to write more about two other members of Aref’s circle, Kavousi and Hadadian, who are part of Aref’s network in the UAE.