Six detained over Palizdar corruption case
Published: Tuesday, June 17, 2008
15:30GMT—11:30AM/EST
CORRUPTION – ARRESTS – PALIZDAR
Washington, 17 June (IranVNC)—The Iranian judiciary announced today that 11 persons are being sued by the government in connection with the case of a self-styled whistle-blower who specifically accused dozens of leading clerics and politicians, including former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, of massive and ongoing corruption and abuse of power.
Judiciary spokesman, Alireza Jamshidi, told reporters in Tehran today that eleven persons are being sued by the government for having ties with and helping Abbas Palizdar, the former parliamentary investigative committee member, who was arrested on charges of “endangering national security” on June 10, according to Fars News Agency. Six have already been placed under arrest, Jamshidi said.
Speaking at a news briefing held at the Ministry of Justice in Tehran today, Jamshidi said that the case against Palizdar was more “deeply rooted” than meets the eye.
When enumerating all counts of Palizdar’s charges, Jamshidi spelled out only “insulting the authorities, spreading rumors and falsehoods, and abuse of his position,” Mehr News Agency reports.
The Judiciary alleges that Palizdar and his collaborators have used their perceived mandate of investigating the working of the judicial system to “remove “ several thousand pages of documents from “classified and un-evaluated files as well as accounts of events” by various persons, and hidden these in various places across the country, according to Mehr News Agency. Some of those who assisted Palizdar had previously held official positions, Jamshidi said.
After Palizdar was placed under arrest, all the persons who had been connected to him in various ways have actively distanced themselves from him as if he did not exist. Even sources close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been reticent. Ahmadinejad had recently complained that many of his moves to reform certain practices are stonewalled by influential forces.
So far, only Mehdi Khazali, the son of Ayatollah Abloqasem Khazali - the secretary-general of Ghadir International Foundation [a Shiite organization] and a high-level religious official - who was implicated by Palizdar of corruption in the case of the “red soil” mines of Hormoz Island, has admitted on his personal website that some of the allegations are true.
One individual, who has come down square on Palizdar’s side, is a former parliamentarian, Akbar Alami, who, on his website, has challenged Palizdar’s co-members at the Majlis committee to aver, under oath, that all the allegations made by Palizdar are untrue. He wonders why everybody has kept mum. He names numerous cases of economic corruption asking if “the existence of economic corrupt family networks in the country is a lie”.
Sources: Fars News Agency, Mehr News, IRNA, ISNA, Akbar A’lami, Entekhab
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