It isn’t known if those falsehoods had anything to do with Bajestani’s sudden departure from his job last month. (See last week’s Iran Times, page four.)
Bajestani, 55, admitted he withdrew $1.5 million from his deferred compensation account with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 2007 by claiming a financial hardship that didn’t exist.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that an appellate court ruled last year that Bajestani falsely claimed to need the money for housing when he actually sent $600,000 to his brother-in-law in Iran. The transfers were made through a Canadian bank just after Bajestani’s second wife, Maryam Ghorashi-Bajestani, sued him for divorce.
“[Bajestani] did not need the money,” Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge D. Michael Swiney ruled in a 31-page divorce ruling last year. “At trial, he admitted that he did not have a financial hardship at the time he made the withdrawal.”
Bajestani testified he wanted to earn more money through investments in Iran. “The dollar was losing its value, and I had this opportunity to invest some money outside the US and specifically buy some property back in Tehran, Iran,” Bajestani said during his divorce trial in 2008. “So I decided to withdraw the money and invest it outside the US.”
By withdrawing the money early under false pretenses, Bajestani appears to have violated TVA’s rules for such bonus and retirement plans, the Chattanooga daily said.
It appeared to the court that Bajestani was trying to move money out of the country so it wouldn’t be calculated in any divorce settlement.
As an American resident, Bajestani is also barred from investing in Iran. He could face problems with the US Treasury Department.
Bajestani was being paid more than $600,000 a year as the vice president of the Tennessee Valley Authority in charge of building the Watts Bar #2 nuclear power plant.
TVA officials won’t say whether Bajestani was fired or whether this money matter was related to his departure, only that he left his job January 28. “All we’re saying is he’s no longer with us,” TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said.
Bajestani had been vice president in charge of all three of TVA’s nuclear plants at one time or another. He became embroiled in a court case shortly after taking on oversight of building the Watts Bar’s #1 reactor two decades ago.
The Tennessean of Nashville, Tennessee, reported that he fired Robert Klock, a lead startup engineer on the first Watts Bar reactor, on July 5, 1994, saying Klock had been absent from work, was not needed anymore and had used unauthorized overtime. The US Department of Labor found otherwise.
The plant was preparing to begin operation, and Klock, who worked for a contractor, had found safety issues, according to documents from the department’s case.
Klock had informed TVA officials about his concerns but was brushed aside, The Tennessean said.
When Klock told Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff, however, they confirmed he was right. He was fired within a few weeks, after leaving on vacation to take his son to Disney World.
Bajestani on direct examination had testified that he didn’t know that Klock had raised any concerns with the NRC, but Bajestani had gone on an inspection tour led by Klock to show the NRC the valve in question.
Bajestani also admitted later on cross-examination that he knew Klock had told the NRC about the valve issue.
The investigation by the Labor Department determined that Klock had been discriminated against for reporting safety concerns to regulators.
TVA was ordered to repay wages lost as well as to compensate for other losses that resulted.
Without income, Klock, who had been going through a divorce, had his home foreclosed on and had to give up his car. He couldn’t get a job in the nuclear industry with the cloud left over him by the firing, The Tennessean said.
The loss of Klock’s job “was a deliberate retaliation” for his discussing the items with nuclear regulatory staff on site, said an administrative law judge in September 1995.
“He has shown by the clear preponderance of the evidence that those reasons, as enumerated by Bajestani, did not actually motivate his discharge,” it said.
Testimony was given that Klock was highly regarded for his dedication, hard work and knowledge and that his reports to the NRC had embarrassed TVA officials.
Klock, now living in Maryland, told The Tennessean last week that Bajestani was arrogant and short-tempered. “It was egg on his face,” Klock said. “I had been working there 16 months. He fired me for absenteeism. I actually worked an average of 66 hours a week.”
The valve in question was on the radiation containment vessel of the reactor. In the event of a shutdown, it could keep high-level radiation from getting to employees and the public.
Bajestani had said it should be bypassed if it didn’t work, Klock said. “When I did the final review, I said, ‘This isn’t right.’”
Klock said he wasn’t bitter toward TVA. “It wasn’t TVA,” he said. “It was him [Bajestani]. It was him alone.”
