November 19, 2021
Valiollah Seif, a former governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for corruption, the Judiciary announced October 16.
Seif headed the CBI from 2013 to 2018, the first six years of Hassan Rohani’s presidency, but was accused of improper foreign currency transactions and forced out of office.
He was tried with nine others, including Ahmad Araqchi, one of his deputies and the nephew of Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi. The spokesman for the Judiciary said Araqchi was sentenced to eight years.
The main charges against both men were for improperly selling 160 million US dollars and 20 million euros on the open market. But Judiciary spokesman Zabihollah Khodaeian said the actual conviction was for “disturbing the foreign exchange market, the country’s economic climate and mismanagement.”
Another person charged in the case was Salar Aghakhani, a foreign currency dealer for Ansar Bank of the Revolutionary Guard Cooperatives Foundation. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison and was reportedly the person given the huge sums to pump into the market. Aghakhani has fled Iran and was tried in absentia.
Ahmad Araqchi, who was Seif’s deputy in charge of foreign exchange, in his defense in 2018 had said the hard currencies were sold in an effort to support the value of the Iranian currency, in coordination with the Intelligence Ministry and based on a request by the Supreme National Security Council and orders from President Rohani.
Iran’s Central Bank routinely intervenes in the volatile foreign currency market, selling dollars and other foreign currencies to try to halt the ever-falling value of the rial. No one has yet explained how the sales under Seif differed from the multitude of earlier sales to support the rial.
Two other officials, Meysam Khodai, who worked in President Rohani’s office, and Rasul Sajjad, another CBI official were also sentenced to 13 years each. Altogether, 10 officials received prison terms.
The men were tried by the special court on corruption set up under then-Judiciary Chairman Ebrahim Raisi in 2019.
Khodaeian said the Judiciary has initiated a separate fraud case involving the smuggling of foreign currency out of Iran and the illegal distribution of large amounts of gold.