Iranian Court Sentences Man, Wife to Death for Disrupting Economy
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian financial criminal and his wife have been sentenced to death on a charge of major disruption to the country’s currency and car markets as they had purchased more than 6,700 automobiles and hoarded 24,700 gold coins, the Judiciary’s spokesperson said.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Gholam Hossein Esmaeili said the case of Vahid Behzadi and his wife, Najva Lasheidaee, includes a mixture of crimes, such as disruption to the country’s currency market and automobile market.
The two have been sentenced on charges of major disruption to the country’s monetary and currency system, currency smuggling through dummy purchase orders, disrupting the system of distribution of commodities by purchasing more than 6,700 cars in advance from Iranian carmaker Saipa, and money-laundering involving a sum of 32 trillion rials, Esmaeili added.
The Judiciary spokesman noted that 24,700 gold coins and 100 kilograms of gold have been confiscated from the convicted woman’s dwelling.
He also noted that former CEO of Saipa car factory, Mahdi Jamali, has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for involvement in disruption to distribution mechanisms, while the former deputy head of the carmaker’s marketing department has been sentenced to 15 years.
Moreover, two parliamentarians, Mohammad Azizi and Fereidoon Ahmadi, have been sentenced to 61 months in prison each, he noted.
Since August 2018, Iran’s Judiciary has been holding public trials of individuals involved in major economic corruption cases.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has permitted the Judiciary to take special measures in order to confront economic corruption and called for “swift and just” legal action against financial crimes.
The Leader has described “outright and unequivocal” treatment of economic corruption as one of the Judiciary’s major duties, stressing that confronting economic corrupts must be decisive and effective.