On the direct orders of the Supreme Leader Khamenei, the supreme judicial authority has condemned Mehdi Hashemi, the son of senior regime official Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to ten years in prison, with the regime using the son to indirectly beat the father.
The action, which came in retaliation for Rafsanjani’s revelations about the involvement of Khamenei’s own sons in corruption and amassing personal fortunes, has prompted Rafsanjani to threaten to reveal more regime secrets.
Serat News which has close ties to Hussein Shariatmadari, the managing editor of Kayhan, a conservative Iranian newspaper, reported that after Rafsanjani began revealing the regime’s secrets, judicial authorities issued a detailed indictment against his son Mehdi Hashemi, calling this “the start of a complex game” within the upper echelons of the Iranian leadership.
♦ Revelations about the wealth of Khamenei’s sons
The London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi has published a detailed report on the fortunes of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei sons, alleging that the wealth amassed by Khamenei’s sons amounts to billions of dollars, mostly deposited in banks in England, Syria, and Venezuela. “The wealth of Mojtaba, Khamenei’s second son, is estimated to be three billion dollars, most of which was deposited in banks in the UAE, Syria, Venezuela and some African countries,” the report states.
According to the newspaper, Mojtaba Khamenei has claimed ownership of vast tracts of land in the city of Mashhad and turned them into his private fiefdom. The mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Ghalibaf, also granted Khamenei’s second son ownership of a few hectares of the much-sought-after prime state-owned real estate in exclusive areas of the nation’s capital, including the upmarket Abbas Abad neighbourhood.
Khamenei’s third son, Massoud, meanwhile, who is responsible for running many of the Supreme Leader’s extremely lucrative institutions, has amassed more than $ 400 million in banks in France and England, as well as a further $100 million in banks in Tehran. Masoud also holds the monopoly to sell products for the French car manufacturer Renault in Iran.
Khamenei’s youngest son, Maitham, married the daughter of one of the most famous traders in the Iranian market. He is a partner with his brother Massoud in the Renault franchise in Iran, as well as being appointed as an Executive Director in Khamenei’s office and holding directorships of other affiliated institutions.
Khamenei’s elder daughter, Bushra, married the son of President Khamenei’s office director, Mohammed Jelbaidjani. As the first daughter, Bushra is doted upon by her parents, who cherished her to the point of ordering streets and routes down which the convoy of vehicles taking her to school as a child might be travelling to be closed and sealed off. During her childhood, one bodyguard would be stationed in front of the school doors, while two others would stand outside whichever classroom she was in for the duration of her classes. Her personal wealth is estimated to be around $100 million.
The Supreme Leader’s other daughter and youngest child, Huda, is another prized jewel of the family. Married to a member of a prominent religious family in Iran, Huda, who has a keen interest in designer clothes, fashion, and jewelry owns her own upmarket beauty salon, which is guarded by regime personnel. Like her sister, Huda’s personal wealth is estimated at around $100 million.
Another privileged family member who’s benefited vastly from his connection to the Supreme Leader is Khamenei’s nephew, Hassan, who has responsibility for state television broadcasting, as well as being in charge of the purchase of cameras and other electronic equipment for the regime’s TV stations. Hassan is the exclusive agent for the Japanese Sony corporation in Iran, with annual purchases of the state’s TV and radio broadcasting arms amounting to between $50 million and $60 million annually. Sony’s total annual profits from its transactions in the Iranian market are estimated to be up to $600 million per year, with around 7 percent of this (around $42 million) going straight into the bank account of Khamenei’s nephew, according to reports.
According to the Reuters news agency, the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has built up a business empire worth around $95 billion, with massive-scale corruption endemic throughout the whole structure of the regime.
Source: Iran Secularism website
