Tehran’s stock exchange has suspended Iran’s largest steel-maker
from trading following a parliamentary report alleging corruption to the tune
of $3 billion, local media reported.
Trading of the
Mobarakeh Steel Company’s stocks has been suspended “due to uncertainties about
the transparency of information”, said the Tehran bourse’s chief executive
Mahmoud Goudarzi, quoted by the Fars news agency.
Trading in the
company will not resume “until the necessary information is clearly obtained”,
he said, according to the news report late Saturday.
Located in central
Isfahan province, Mobarakeh plays a major role in Iran’s economy and is the
owner of local football team Sepahan.
The firm and several
of its subsidiaries are subject to US Treasury Department sanctions.
Fars said the
decision came days after the release of a 295-page parliamentary report
alleging widespread corruption among the firm’s senior management between 2018
and 2021.
The report accuses
the company of 90 counts of wrongdoings including fraud and influence-peddling,
amounting to a total of around $3 billion, Fars said.
According to the
parliamentary report, which was published by several local media outlets, the
firm paid huge sums of money to officials at government institutions and other
influential bodies.
They included figures
at the intelligence and industry ministries and provincial governors’ offices,
as well as the judiciary, the police, state broadcaster IRIB, members of
parliament and clerics.
In January last year,
conservative Iranian lawmakers voted to launch an investigation into
Mobarakeh’s affairs to examine issues including “the reasons for its decrease
in export volume, illegal appointments, the payment of exorbitant salaries and
the signing of ambiguous contracts”, the parliamentary report said.
The report also
accuses officials from the government of former moderate president Hassan
Rouhani of appointing Mobarakeh’s managerial team and board members.
Fars said the
parliamentary report had been referred to the judiciary for further
investigation, but judicial authorities have not yet announced whether a probe
has been opened.
In June Iran’s
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in major state
policies, called on the judiciary to “seriously” fight corruption.
Transparency
International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Iran 150 out of 180
countries.