A court in Iran has sentenced billionaire businessman Babak Zanjani and two accomplices to death for embezzlement, the country’s judiciary said on Sunday, in a case widely watched due to the tycoon’s prominent role in helping the Iranian government evade oil sanctions during the rule of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Advertisement
The three defendants were sentenced to death and were ordered to pay a “fine equal to one fourth of the money that was laundered”, Mohseni-Ejeie reportedly said without specifying the sum.
Zanjani, who can appeal, had denied any wrongdoing, insisting that the only reason the money had not been paid to the oil ministry was that sanctions had prevented a planned transfer from taking place.
Under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, a “corruptor on/in the earth” is a person who contributes to spreading and expanding corruption on earth.
At a press conference over the weekend, a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary said Zanjani had been convicted of fraud and economic crimes.
Zanjani was arrested on December 30, 2013 after 12 lawmakers accused him of corruption, calling for an inquiry into his financial activities in a letter to the heads of the three branches of the government.
Prosecutors claim he owed the money to Iran’s government from oil sold on behalf of the oil ministry.
Advertisement
By his own admission, Zanjani arranged billions of dollars of oil deals for years through a network of companies in countries such as Turkey, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. He is said to be worth around $13.5 billion – or £9.5 billion.
