Iranian oil blockade runner sentenced to death for corruption
An Iranian billionaire who helped Tehran evade western oil sanctions has been sentenced to death for embezzlement.
Babak Zanjani and two accomplices were convicted by an Islamic court of "spreading corruption on earth", a capital offence, and ordered to repay funds embezzled from state-run National Iranian Oil Co. and others.
The defendants can appeal against the ruling.
The three were also ordered to pay a fine equivalent to one fourth of the sums they had laundered, Reuters reports, citing judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.
For years, Zanjani arranged billions of dollars of oil deals through a network of companies stretching from Turkey to Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.
Zanjani amassed a fortune of US$10 billion and as much debt, he once told an Iranian magazine.
At the time of his arrest in December 2013, a judicial spokesman said "he received funds from certain bodies ... and received oil and other shipments and now has not returned the funds".
Prosecutors accused him of owing the government more than US$2.7 billion for oil sold on behalf of the oil ministry.
Iran emerged from years of economic isolation in January when world powers led by the United States and the European Union lifted crippling sanctions against Tehran in return for curbs on Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
– Contact us at [email protected]
FL/RA
-
Ignoble ease Neville Sarony
There is no shortage of commentators, both lawyers and lay people, who feel entitled to criticize Hong Kong’s legal community for what these observers assert is a failure to stand up for the liberal
-
An imminent private housing supply chasm and its solutions Ryan Ip Man-ki, Jason Leung Yeuk Ho
As the 5th wave of Covid-19 gradually subsides, waves of new private housing projects are now under the spotlight. Intensifying competition among developers became the talk of the town after a
-
On the Jumbo ship’s sinking Brian YS Wong
There has been a plethora of hot takes over the closure – and subsequent, more recent, sinking – of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. The floating restaurant had once been Hong Kong’s hallmark tourist
-
Would crypto help this Japanese tour company to survive? Ben Kwok
It does not take a scientist to figure out how many travel agencies were closed due to border closing in Hong Kong. But one listed company has found a new way to survive, although it still takes time
-
No way home A Hongkonger
Before you lie three keys. The first key, to allow you to leave the country. The second key, to allow you to sleep under a humble shelter. The third key, to designate your status as a healthy, fully
