Judiciary Intensifies Monitoring of Forex, Gold Coin Markets

EghtesadOnline: As the months-long foreign currency and gold coin rally in Iran prevails, mainly due to unyielding speculative activities that have contributed to the decline of the rial, the judiciary has now expanded its role for combating the issue.

News ID: ۷۸۳۲۰۰

10 July 2018

Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was on Sunday quoted as saying by the official news outlet of his office that the judiciary “has licensed the police and security entities to control the bank accounts of people active in the areas of gold and foreign currencies”.

“On a case-by-case basis, it is possible that orders for the closure of accounts could also be given for the unlawful foreign currency activities to subside,” he said.

According to the prosecutor, police and security organizations have been ordered to exert oversight and report to the judiciary if gold market speculators are operating in an organized manner or have established bands on a major scale, Financial Tribune reported.

The judiciary has also officially called on the Central Bank of Iran to present a comprehensive report on this issue.

Dolatabadi also announced that the recently established specialized court for monetary and banking offences has so far issued 30 subpoenas for currency offenders. His department further mandated police and security forces to present periodic reports on gold and foreign currency developments.

The news comes less than a week after Tehran Police Chief General Hossein Rahimi announced that the “Sultan of Coins”, a 58-year old man who was hoarding 2 tons of gold coins to manipulate the market, was arrested.

According to unofficial sources, 2 tons would be the equivalent of around 250,000 coins. Each benchmark Bahar Azadi gold coin was trading for 28.66 million rials ($668) on Monday. The US dollar, on the other hand, changed hands for 81,000 rials the same day after hitting an all-time low of 90,000 rials or twice the government rate of 42,000 rials a few weeks back.