Baku, Azerbaijan, May 5
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian parliamentarians approved a bill that obliges the IRGC's Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base to pay taxes, Mehr news agency reported May 5.
Under the approved bill, all entities and companies affiliated to the base as well as Astan Qods Razavi, a religious body that oversees the shrine of 8th Shiite Imam in Mashahd city should pay taxes once the Sixth Five Year Development Plan (2016-21) comes into force.
Astan Qods Razavi, which is under supervision of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly controls 44 companies and has stakes in another 60.
Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base, another entity which will be obliged to pay taxes, is one of Iran's largest contractors in industrial and development projects.
Established during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the powerful financial entity controls over 812 registered companies inside and outside Iran. Some 10 percent of the company's employees are the IRGC members and the rest are contractors.
The projects under the Khatam al-Anbia's supervision range from aerospace and construction to developing oil and gas fields.