Baku, Azerbaijan, May 8
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Head of the Interpol Office of the Iranian police has announced that the former head of Bank Melli Iran, Mahmoud Reza Khavari who was charged in the famous 2011 $3-billion embezzlement case, is still in Canada.
"The Canadian police have confirmed Khavari's presence in the country," Colonel Massoud Rezvani said, Iranian Fars news agency reported on May 8.
The $3-billion embezzlement was a fraud involving the use of forged documents to obtain credit from at least seven Iranian state and private banks to purchase state-owned companies. This bank fraud had been described as the biggest financial scam in the country's history.
In February 2013 Interpol announced an international search for Khavari, upon Iran's request.
Khavari who has dual Iranian-Canadian citizenship escaped to Canada in September of 2011.
Iran's police are seriously pursuing Khavari's case, Rezvani said, adding that Iran has supplied Canada's police with documents, which are necessary for Khavari's arrest.
Earlier Iranian media outlets quoted Rezvani as saying that Canadian police have announced that Khavari has escaped from Canada to one of the South American countries.