Senior Convicted Official In Iran Sending Assets Abroad Even From Jail

A former deputy of Iran’s judiciary, released from prison last year after serving only a fraction of his sentence, has been taking his illicitly gained assets abroad. 

Iran International has obtained a long list of Akbar Tabari’s properties, such as large shopping malls, houses, large land holdings, apartments and shops, that were not even mentioned during the numerous hearing sessions held after he and 21 others were arrested in 2019 for running a bribery ring inside the regime’s judiciary department.

Almost all the people implicated in the case were released before completing their sentences. Late in June, Gholamali Mohammadi, the head of Iran's Prisons Organization, announced that Tabari -- the highest-ranking judiciary official in the case -- was released from prison after serving just 45 months of a 31-year prison term, posting a bail of 3 trillion rials ($6 million). 

Before being arrested in July 2019, Tabari held senior financial and executive positions within the Iranian judiciary for nearly 20 years. He was eventually sentenced to 31 years in prison for leading a bribery network and receiving multiple bribes and for money laundering. 

According to Iran International’s investigative journalist Mojtaba Pourmohsen, Tabari continued his illegal activities from inside the prison as the court sessions were being held. 

Our sources said that several of his associates have been converting his assets into foreign currencies and sending to Portugal and the Canadian city of Vancouver, adding that authorities turn a blind eye -- or facilitate -- his affairs to protect Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili, a senior justice and former spokesman of the Judiciary who is now the chief of staff of President Ebrahim Raisi. Tabari was removed from his posts in the judiciary only seven days after Ebrahim Raisi was appointed as Chief Justice in March 2019.

Delving into evidence pertaining to the list of Tabari’s assets would have opened the pandora’s box and revealed the deep corruption in the highest levels of the country’s judiciary, our sources said, justifying the reason why Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei gave the green not to investigate the case thoroughly. Another piece of evidence that was buried would have led to further investigation about Sadeq Larijani, another former Chief Justice and the current chairman of Expediency Discernment Council -- an advisory body appointed by the Supreme Leader. 

One of our sources claimed that the known facts and figures about Tabari’s case are only the tip of the iceberg in the judiciary’s corruption that may include a large number of senior officials of the country’s judicial system. 

Mohammadi, the head of Iran's Prisons Organization, said in the late June TV interview that Tabari's release was the result of a "judicial authority's decision within legal parameters," a reference to Mohseni-Ejei, the current head of the judiciary.

Tabari's release cast aspersions about the fairness of Iran's judiciary in high-profile cases, showing preferential treatment to former regime officials and those who can buy their way out of jail. While regime opponents are subjected to immediate secret trials and severe punishment, including those arrested during the recent nationwide protests, the process of reviewing the charges of officials and their affiliates is usually slow, and their sentences are usually suspended after a short period.

Another question raised following Tabari’s release was how a former government employee can post a $6 million bail when monthly salaries of top officials is around $1,000. According to official documents of the case, a copy of which was obtained by Iran International, well-known Iranian tycoon Mohammad (Dariush) Afrashtehpour paid the bail money. Afrashtehpour is one of the so-called ‘major debtors’ to state banks who has been involved in a plethora of financial schemes under several administrations.