196 suspects detained over foreign currency crimes

TEHRAN (defapress) – The spokesman of Iran’s judiciary Gholamhossein Mohseni-Eje’i announced that 196 suspects have been detained in the capital city of Tehran in the past days over smuggling and corruption in foreign currency market.

News ID: 73078

Date: 14 October 2018 - 17:00

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mohseni-Eje’i said that the special court tasked with fighting economic corruption in foreign currency market has given 49 people their penalties, and the cases for 100 suspects are currently being studied by the court.

The senior official added that 17 people have been arrested in the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province due to corruption in the currency banking system and receiving $100 million of illegal money.

Mohseni-Eje’i said, parallel with the government’s push to fight economic criminals, several other suspects have also been put to jail in other provinces across the country.

A special court was recently set up by Iranian judiciary to tackle economic corruption amid depreciation of Iranian national currency against foreign currencies which is also referred to in Iran as ‘currency crisis.’

Iranian rial has been on a falling trend in the past weeks. The national currency plunged to the record low of 192,000 on the unofficial market against one Dollar last week. However, it regained some of its previously lost value after the Central Bank of Iran announced new policies to manage the market.

Last week, Mohseni-Eje’i announced that the court had given death penalties to 3 people regarding the currency corruption, adding that their sentences were not certain yet and needed the Supreme Court’s approval.

He said that the 32 other people were given different jail sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years.

Meanwhile, he vowed that fight against corruption will continue and the judiciary in cooperation with law enforcement will confront all who try to disrupt the market.

Message end/