Court Invalidates Privatization of Giant Farming Company
EghtesadOnline: The Supreme Audit Court of Iran, the supervisory arm of the parliament, issued a ruling reversing a decision by the Iranian Privatization Organization two years ago to divest Moghan Agro Industrial & Animal Husbandry Company.
The ruling, published by Mehr News Agency, discloses wrongdoings and abuse by members of an ad hoc IPO committee in charge of the divestment.
The misprision, among other things, includes undervaluing the property value. Over the past few years, the IPO, under its previous management, came under mounting criticism over rampant corruption in handling divestment schemes.
According to news outlets, Moghan company in northwestern Ardabil Province, had been sold for 18 trillion rials ($62 million) to Shirin Asal Food Group.
However, the sale was condemned by many quarter on the premise that is was sold very cheap given the huge size of the Major company that employ thousands of people and has 2,600 hectares of orchards.
The ruling comes just a week after judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi pointed to flaws in the divestment during a trip to Ardabil, saying that the conditions that led to the privatization in 2017 should be reviewed.
At that time the divestiture was touted as the biggest privatization in Iran’s key agro sector.
The company has four main functions: agriculture (growing wheat, barley, corn, sugar beet, and alfalfa), animal husbandry (milk station, fatten calf, animal feed factory and reserve unit), gardening (growing 60 types of fruits), sugar and dairy production plus affiliated industries.