will be hanged and two others sentenced to life imprisonment—although no one has yet been tried for involvement in that crime.
The Fars news agency reported that Pasdar spokesman Hamid-Reza Moqaddam-far announced in a speech last Wednesday, “Some people, both inside and outside the country, are trying to link this fraud to the government [of President Ahmadi-nejad]. The government is completely clear of such accusations and it was in no way involved in the embezzlement.”
General Moqaddam-far then clearly announced, “Two individuals are to get the death penalty and another two life imprisonment.”
He did not explain what the Pasdaran had to do with the trial and punishment system. Nor did he explain how he knew what the sentences were before anyone had been tried.
His remarks were likely to feed the view that the Pasdaran are expanding their power and sticking their tentacles into every aspect of life in the Islamic Republic.
Four days after Moqaddam-far spoke so authoritatively, national Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossain Mohseni-Ejai, who is in charge of the probe, announced that 126 people have so far been interrogated as part of the investigation.
In an interview with state broadcasting, he said 50 of those people have been charged in the fraud and 27 of them are currently detained.
He did not say when the trials would begin. Nor did he say how many of those to be tied would be hanged.