Iran arrests 80 in country's biggest ever banking scam

Iran arrests 80 in country's biggest ever banking scam

2011-11-09 09:38:00 GMT+7 (ICT)

TEHRAN (BNO NEWS) -- Iran's judiciary on Tuesday said eighty people have so far been arrested in connection with the largest bank fraud in the country's history, state-run media reported.

"In the past three months, more than 80 people have been investigated as suspects in this case and if we add those with information pertaining to this case, the number will reach almost 100," Judiciary spokesman Hojjatoleslam Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said.

"Of those investigated 48 [people] were taken into temporary custody," he added.

Seven state-owned and private Iranian banks are said to be involved in the $2.8 billion embezzlement case. Prosecutors said documents were allegedly forged to secure loans that were then used to purchase state-owned companies, according to Press TV.

The case triggered a vote in parliament to impeach Shamseddin Hosseini, the minister of economic affairs and finance, earlier this month. Hosseini survived the vote after 141 of the 244 lawmakers voted to uphold his position.

On September 26, Mohseni-Ejei announced that 22 people had been arrested, but a number of them have since been freed on bail. He assured the public that all necessary measures have been taken to prevent the alleged criminals from leaving the country or transferring the money to offshore accounts.

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