Mohammad Jahromi has slammed the decision to relieve him of his duties as the head of the Bank of Saderat and claims the man who just quit as head of Iran Melli Bank, Mahmoudreza Khavari, has fled to Canada due to the “widespread corruption in the Melli Bank system.”
Jahromi released an announcement stating that the main culprits in Iran’s huge banking fraud are in “the Central Bank, the cabinet and the banking system” and they are making every effort to falsely present him and the Bank of Saderat as the real perpetrators of this fraud.
He continues: “With the escape of Mr. Khavari [the former head of Melli Bank] to Canada, some of them are lost and caught off guard.”
Khavari offered his letter of resignation yesterday with an apology to Iran’s Supreme Leader and the Iranian people.
According to Jahromi, Khavari and his family were Canadian residents prior to his becoming the head of Iran Melli Bank.
Jahromi maintains that Khavari has fled to Canada, and his accomplices in the Central Bank and the government are trying to justify his absence. A Melli Bank spokesman told ISNA today that Khavari is currently on “an authorized mission” abroad and will return to Iran tomorrow.
Jahromi insisted that his dismissal is another way of pointing the finger in the wrong direction. He adds that the financial fraud was well underway before he was appointed to run the Bank of Saderat, and it was his attempts to investigate irregularities that led to his dismissal from the Council of Credit and Currency.
Reports of an immense financial fraud in Iran’s banking system hit the media in recent weeks. According to these reports, the owner of several companies has managed to acquire billions of dollars by colluding with the manager of a Bank of Saderat branch in Ahvaz in the sale of fraudulent letters of credit to public and private banks.
The judiciary has so far arrested 22 people in connection with this case, including the head of Ahvaz branch of the Bank of Saderat branch and a number of other mangers, as well as the head of the Kish branch of Iran Melli Bank and the owner those related investment companies.