News / Economy

Iran judiciary issues hefty sentences to corruption convicts

Tuesday, 19 May 2020 2:09 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 19 May 2020 4:21 PM ]

Caption: Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili speaking to reporters in a press conference in Tehran on May 19, 2020. (Photo by Mizanonline)

An Iranian court responsible for economic corruption cases has handed down hefty sentences to 34 convicts, including to a couple who have been sentenced to death over money laundering, the country’s judiciary has said.

Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili on Tuesday that the convicts had been involved in disrupting the foreign currencies, gold and car markets.

Esmailisai said a couple, identified as Vahid Behzadi and Najva Lashiedai, were sentenced to death after the Special Court for Economic Crimes found them guilty of laundering around 32 trillion rials ($200 million).

The spokesman said the couple had also hoarded 100 kilograms of gold and over 24,700 gold coins when police searched their house.

The verdicts are not final and can be appealed within the next 20 days, said the official, although he insisted that verdicts issued by Iran’s special courts can be made public even before they are finalized.

Esmailisai said other convicts had received sentences between three to 15 years in prison. Among them were two current parliament lawmakers who each received sentences of 61 months over involvement in activities that disrupted Iran’s car market.

The judiciary spokesman said 11 new verdicts related to economic corruption would be announced in the upcoming days.

For the past two years, Iran’s independent judiciary system has toughened its campaign against corruption as the country seeks a deep reform in the way the economy is working in the face of illegal sanctions imposed by foreign entities.

More than a dozen people have been sentenced to death and dozens have received hefty jail sentences since fluctuations in exchange and gold markets began to hit the economy in the summer of 2018.

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