See also Iran 1st-Hand: "Almost Everybody is Under Financial Pressure"
The Latest from Iran (17 February): The Political Battle
President Ahmadinejad Sees a Nuclear Project1315 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. At today's trial over the $2.6 billion bank fraud, the prosecution separated the 32 defendants into six groups:
1) the main companions of the central figure, Amir Mansour Khosravi, involved in all crimes such as forging and using documents, exchanging lines of credits, establishing fraudulent companies, transferring money, and buying property;
2) companions of Amir Khosravi active in the cases;
3) people who acted for Amir Khosravi as brokers;
4) management of companies who demanded faked lines of credit;
5) employees of the Amir Mansur Investment Group involved in embezzlement, receiving large payments to handle illegal affairs;
6) members of management and credit and supervisory departments of banks, who neglected their duties or dissipated funds as government employees.
Khosravi said he had spent 6 1/2 months in prison but had had only two hours to talk to his lawyer. The lawyer said he had had no chance to read the complaint.
Khosravi, according to the report, admitted that he had paid a $3 million bribe to Mahmoud Reza Khavari, the former head of Bank Melli who has fled to Canada, but added that he did not want to commit treason.
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Sunday, May 13, 2012 at 11:04
1505 GMT: Economy Watch. Economist Saeed Laylaz has rejected the President's claims that Iran's price rises are due to global inflation, saying the most important factor is the Government.
