SUV-Gate Whistleblower MP Banned From Speaking In Iran’s Parliament

The lawmaker who recently revealed bribery involving a former minister and 70 lawmakers in Iran says he has been banned from speaking in parliament.

Ahmad Alirezabeigi told Sharq daily on Monday that the ban imposed on him is illegal and the parliament has not informed him in this regard.

Alirezabeigi revealed in late April that over seventy SUVs were offered to lawmakers at a lower price by the ministry of industry ahead of lawmakers’ discussions of a motion in December last year to impeach former minister of industry, Reza Fatemi-Amin.

The minister was accused by at least 40 members of parliament of “inadequate performance” including failure to control rising prices for domestically produced vehicles, their low quality, preventing competitive imports, and corruption in the industry.

More than 200 members of parliament have sent text messages to the public or told the media that they were never involved in the scheme and did not benefit from it.

The media published a list of others who have not denied receiving the SUVs. These include both supporters of Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and hardliner Paydari Front lawmakers.

The whistleblower MP was indicted for “making a claim without evidence” in May but claims the parliament and its presiding board have violated the law.

He claims to have sent a letter to the judiciary regarding the issue of the SUVs and the authorities told him a "committee from the Prosecutor General's Office" will be appointed to deal with the issue.