Iran annuls private ownership of its largest sugarcane mill
Iran’s largest sugarcane mill returned to government ownership after a long legal battle which proved the country is determined to go against fake privatizations despite negative implications it might have for private investors.
According to local news agencies, the final court ruling on renationalization of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company was issued earlier of Saturday, Press TV reported.
The reports cited a tweet posted by head of Iran’s Supreme Audit Court (SAC) Mehrdad
Bazrpash saying that the long battle to abolish the privatization of Haft Tappeh had been won.
They said the final ruling on the case had been waiting for an assurance from the government that workers would face no problem during the process to retransfer ownership of the company.
Haft Tappeh’s case caught the headlines in recent years mainly because of sporadic worker strikes and demonstrations over unpaid salaries held before the company’s main office in the southwestern Khuzestan. province of
Worker unions repeatedly accused the private owners of the company of trying to deliberately halt sugarcane farming and processing in a bid to close the company and sell its properties.
The SAC, which is a subsidiary of the Iranian parliament, said that numerous irregularities had taken place in the process to privatize Haft Tappeh, which is one of the oldest agricultural companies in the Middle East.
It said that the company had been sold at a very cheap price and that the private owners had benefited from rent-seeking activities.