Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.22
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said that there is no link between senior oil officials and Babak Zanjani's fraud case.
"Senior officials in the oil industry have always been truthful and sympathetic. My good friend, the former oil minister Rostam Qasemi, was among the most sympathetic officials in the oil industry," the Shana news agency quoted Zanganeh as saying on Aug. 21.
The Fars news agency has ported that a senior oil official has been arrested recently in connection with the Zanjani's fraud case. The arrested official is the managing director of one of the main subsidiaries of the Oil Ministry.
Oil minister Zanganeh said on Aug. 12 that Iranian billionaire Babak Zanjani, who had been involved in Iran's oil sales to bypass the imposed western sanctions on the country, has deposited $2.7 billion of petrodollars to a fake bank in Tajikistan.
Zanganeh criticized the administration of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for power abuse, saying that Zanjani with the support of a number of ministers and the central bank governor had deposited $2.7 billion of petrodollars to a fake bank in Tajikistan and the money has been eliminated.
On Dec. 30, Zanjani was arrested. In August 2013, Zanjani said that he has helped transfer €17.5 billion of the Iranian banks' capital from outside the country to domestic bank accounts with a 0.007 percent interest.
Zanjani is the owner or shareholder of at least 70 companies and banks, including Bank Arzesh in Tajikistan and First Islamic Bank.
Zanganeh said a number of persons, like Zanjani, pocketed petrodollars and are not willing to repay the money. "A major portion of Zanjani's debt is related to the crude oil which had been given to him in order to be sold overseas. But, he never paid the petrodollars to the administration."
On March 12, Zanganeh said that Zanjani owes 1.1 million rials (about $45) to every Iranian.
In September 2013, Zanjani claimed the Americans blocked his bank account so he is not able to transfer the money to the Iranian government.