Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.22
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Babak Zanjani, a well-known Iranian businessman, has paid his €2.06 billion debt to Iran's Oil Ministry, ISNA quoted Iranian MP Mostafa Afzalifard as saying on December 22.
The Central Bank has affirmed that the sum has been deposited to the Oil Ministry's account, he added.
In September, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that "Zanjani claims the Americans blocked his bank account so he is not able to transfer the money to the Iranian government".
Zanjani had said that the money was in bank account of a Hong Kong-based company which is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, adding that, "transferring the money to Iran is not my concern".
In an interview with the ISNA News Agency in August, Zanjani said that he has helped transfer 17.5 billion euros of Iranian banks' capital from outside the country to domestic bank accounts with a 0.007 percent interest.
He further rejected rumors about him selling Iranian oil at a cheap price. He said that the Hong Kong-based company is in charge of selling Iran's oil, but since no bank was ready to transfer money for the firm, the said company asked him to help and he managed to transfer the money via the Malaysia-based bank (which he was a member of its board of directors).
Zanjani also said he has helped the Hong Kong-based company with selling eight oil containers as well as some gas condensates containers. He claimed that he has helped Iran sell a total number of 12 oil and gas condensates containers and secured the money transfer.