Iran Parliament Commission OKs Anti-Corruption Bill
EghtesadOnline: Parliamentarians have reviewed and passed a majority of articles concerning a bill that envisions the establishment of a new specialized organization for combating economic corruption.
According to Hassan Norouzi, spokesman of Majlis Judicial and Legal Commission, the commission convened on Tuesday with the participation of experts from Majlis Research Center and the judiciary. It ratified 50 articles of the bill to establish an organization for fighting economic corruption.
“This organization will have independent judges and its head will have a level 9 judicial license and 15 years of experience,” he told ICANA, the official news outlet of the parliament. The announcement comes on the heels of ongoing government crackdowns on economic corruption and rent-seeking activities that have become more prevalent after Iran’s currency crisis.
Also on Tuesday, judiciary spokesman, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, said the number of people currently jailed for disrupting markets has reached 45. A day earlier, Ahmad Araqchi, deputy for foreign exchange affairs at the Central Bank of Iran, was also arrested, according to Financial Tribune.
According to Norouzi, the organization will deal with economic corruption cases involving more than 50 billion rials ($1.19 million) and have centers in all provinces with the main headquarters located in Tehran.
“All officials and civilians convicted of economic corruption will be sentenced in this organization,” he said, adding that the entity will have special powers for holding hearings and trials.
According to the spokesman, in order to create transparency and prevent future economic crimes, all entities that hold any information about the assets of real and legal persons, including the Supreme Audit Court and the General Inspection Organization, are obliged to expose assets higher than 50 billion rials belonging to people and any future transactions higher than 10 billion rials ($238,095) with the organization.