ERBIL: Iran’s vice president has accused the previous government of smuggling $22 billion of oil money out of the country to Dubai and Turkey, purportedly to keep exchange rates in check.
“These are astonishing numbers,” Iranian media quoted Eshaq Jahangiri as saying at a conference in Tehran. “If the smuggled money is not returned to Iran, it will remain a black stain on the country.
Jahangiri said that the money had been smuggled under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He added that the government’s slow response in prosecuting this case “would damage people’s trust in the authorities in combating corruption and will strengthen our opponents.”
In 2009, Ahmadinejad’s administration faced a major scandal when Turkish authorities said that a whopping $18.5 billion in cash had entered Turkey, without specifying the details or the source of the money.
Later, Turkish media said that money had come from Iran and had been seized at the border.
The scandal was a major topic during debates for the 2009 presidential elections, in which Ahmadinejad was re-elected over Mir Hossein Musavi.
Several Iranian officials also asked Turkey in an official letter to return the money, while Iran’s own intelligence minister denied any shipment of hard currency to Turkey.
Meeting with investors from the private sector, Jahangiri also criticized Iran’s oil policies, saying that the previous government had never channeled money aimed at reviving the private oil sector.
Western sanctions and falling oil prices have plunged Iran into an economic crisis. The rural population, including the Kurds who rely on government subsidies for agriculture and small-scale factories, have been especially hard-hit.
