Iranian multibillionaire, Babak Zanjani, and two colleagues have been sentenced to death for fraud.
The Iranian Attorney-General, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’I, said on Sunday in Teheran that Zanjani was accused of secretly selling Iranian oil as part of a criminal gang during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013) and embezzling billions in profits.
He said President Hassan Rowhani had stepped up investigations against corrupt gangs, including the arrest and trial of 41-year-old Zanjani.
Mohseni-Eje’I said during the court proceedings, members of Ahmadinejad’s former cabinet were mentioned several times as potentially being involved in the scandal.
Zanjani was also blacklisted in the US after he breached international sanctions against Iran by selling oil.
The economic sanctions imposed on Iran over the last decade for its nuclear programme were lifted in mid-January.
This was because Tehran scaled down its nuclear programme and fulfilled its obligations under a July nuclear deal with six world powers.
dpa/NAN.
