DUSHANBE, January 29, 2014, Asia-Plus – The case of Babak Zanjani will not affect bilateral relations between Iran and Tajikistan, Seyed Mahmoud Sadri, Chief of Mission, Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe stated at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 28.
“Relations between Iran and Tajikistan have always been at high level and such issues (Zanjani’s case) cannot darken them,” Ambassador Seyed Mahmoud Sadri.
He denied allegations that the delay in replacement of Iranian ambassador to Tajikistan is connected with Zanjani’s case as absolutely unfounded. According to him, the delay resulted from the election process in Iran. For this reason, new chiefs of Iranian diplomatic missions in 40 other countries have not yet been appointed, Iranian diplomat noted.
He noted that he would be at the head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Dushanbe temporarily, until the new ambassador is appointed.
We will recall that representative of Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe told Asia-Plus on January 8 that it cannot be ruled out that 2 billion U.S. dollars, for which Iranian tycoon Babak Zanjani was arrested last year, are in Tajikistan.
“It is quite possible that Babak Zanjani transferred this amount to Tajikistan but some problems prevented him from transferring this money to Iran,” the source said, noting that much unclear remains about that case.
“Indeed, Babak Zanjani presented a document from the National Bank of Tajikistan about transferring this amount to Tajikistan, but the National Bank of Tajikistan denies any cooperation with him. Therefore, he was arrested. If he recovers this amount, he will be released.”
Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani was arrested on December 30, 2013 and taken to Tehran’s Evin prison. The arrest comes after 12 Iranian lawmakers accused Mr. Zanjani of corruption, calling for an inquiry into his financial activities in a letter to the heads of the three branches of the Iranian government.
In September 2013, Iran”s parliament began investigating Zanjani’s business dealings after he was accused of withholding 1.9 billion U.S. dollars of oil revenue meant to be channeled through his companies. Mr. Zanjani has denied the allegation.
The Central Bank of Iran said in December that Mr. Zanjani had not transferred the outstanding amount. After being accused of withholding money earlier this year, Mr. Zanjani said that he had already transferred 700 million U.S. dollars, but that the international sanctions were preventing him from handing over the remaining 1.2 billion U.S. dollars.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on December 30, 2013 that Tajik central bank has denied any cooperation with Mr. Zanjani. Abdughaffor Qurbonov, a spokesman for the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), told RFE/RL on December 30 that a document presented by Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani to the Iranian parliament that purported to establish such a connection is fake.
A group of Iranian lawmakers reportedly also expressed doubts regarding the authenticity of the document, which allegedly showed that $2 billion had been transferred to Iran”s Oil Ministry from the Tajik National Bank.
