Iran president Rouhani’s brother held on charge of financial crime
Iran’s judiciary yesterday announced the arrest of president Hassan Rouhani’s brother Hossein Fereydoun on financial crime charges, in a long-running feud between two of the country’s centres of power.
“Multiple investigations have been conducted regarding this person, also other people have been investigated, some of whom are in jail,” said deputy judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie.
“Yesterday, bail was issued for him but because he failed to secure it he was referred to prison. If he secures bail, he will be released. But the case will take its course,” he said.
The conservative-dominated judiciary has regularly clashed with Mr Rouhani, who has tried to ease social restrictions and release political prisoners.
News of the arrest comes a year after the head of the general inspection organisation, Naser Seraj, first accused Mr Fereydoun – who acts as a key adviser and gatekeeper to Mr Rouhani – of financial irregularities.
The brothers do not share the same name because Mr Rouhani changed his when he was younger, to a word meaning “cleric”.
Conservatives have demanded that Mr Fereydoun be put on trial, accusing him of receiving zero-interest loans and influencing the appointment of two bank directors.
One of the bank directors was later accused of involvement in a “large corruption scandal” by the intelligence services of the Revolutionary Guard, and the other was fired when linked to a widespread scandal into exorbitant salaries at public institutions.
The attacks on Mr Fereydoun began about the same time as a pay scandal last summer – both of which were milked by conservatives to smear Mr Rouhani in the build-up to the presidential election in May.
A report by the audit court found in October that executives at state-owned banks had earned as much as US$19,066 (Dh70,058) a month – compared with average public sector salaries of US$400 (Dh1,469) – leading to hundreds of prosecutions and a new government salary cap.
Voters still convincingly backed Mr Rouhani’s policies intended to continue rebuilding ties with the West, although there were signs that the corruption allegations had eaten away at his support.
Mr Ejehi, also said yesterday that a US citizen accused of infiltration in Iran had been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The man was identified by the judiciary’s official news agency as Xiyue Wang, a 37-year-old Chinese American researcher at Princeton University.
Mr Wang, who was born in Beijing, was arrested in August last year while trying to leave the country.