April 15, 2016
In order to avoid execution, tycoon Babak Zanjani, con-victed of corruption and sentenced to death, has reportedly given Iran’s Oil Ministry a list of all his assets abroad and the power of attorney to seize them.
His lawyer told the Tasnim news agency his client’s cooperation is aimed at recovering public funds and compensating the treasury.
Rasoul Kouhpayehzadeh said that because his client had been sentenced to death, his executors outside the country stopped cooperating with the government to recover the money, so Zanjani has made all the arrangements to facilitate the transfer of all funds.
Kouhpayehzadeh stressed that his client’s cooperation should be considered enough of a mitigating factor to have the death sentence reconsidered.
Zanjani amassed great wealth during the Ahmadi-nejad Administration, acting as a go-between in circumventing international sanctions to sell Iranian crude. The Ministry of Oil maintains that he owes the government billions of dollars. Zanjani never disputed that, but said sanctions locked the money up in foreign bank accounts where he could not access it.