Iranian mogul gets death penalty for embezzling billions in oil money

One of Iran’s wealthiest businessmen owes the national government $2.7 billion in oil profits covertly collected during the nation’s economic sanctions—and faces the death penalty unless he reimburses the sum. Over the weekend, well-known billionaire Babak Zanjani and two accomplices were condemned to death on charges of fraud and forgery.

A judicial spokesman branded the trio as “corrupters on earth,” a strong Islamic term reserved for death-deserving criminals guilty of damaging society.

The verdict, which came after a nearly five-month trial, can be appealed.

Zanjani, worth an estimated $14 billion, rejects the charges, and his lawyer claimed the tycoon is “just a debtor,” not a corruption-spreader.

But President Hassan Rouhani believes otherwise.

“What people want to know is, who gave him the permission to sell oil and where did all the money go?” Iran’s president asked in a meeting this week, adding, “If we find a corrupt person, we need to identify the roots and dry them up because we [cannot] have economic revival in a society where corruption is present.”

Whether Zanjani is a debtor or a corrupter on earth, the court will execute him unless he can repay the money Iran’s Oil Ministry claims he owes. According to a recent Bloomberg Business report, Zanjani hasn’t written a check—yet.

“Whenever we see the money back in our bank account, we will say that he has cooperated,” Justice Minister Pour Mohammadi told the Iranian Students News Agency on Tuesday. “So far, we haven’t seen him cooperate.”

Iranian authorities arrested Zajani in December 2013, shortly after Rouhani’s election. The new president ordered a crackdown on alleged corruption during the eight-year rule of his hardline predecessor. Local officials say Zanjani collected billions in oil sales on behalf of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government. Many also accuse Zanjani of playing a vital role in helping Iran skirt international oil sanctions.

A news website run by the Iranian judiciary identified one of Zanjani’s associates as British-Iranian businessman Mahdi Shams, who was detained in 2015, and the other as Hamid Fallah Heravi, a retired businessman.

This isn’t the first batch of Iranian businessmen to receive a death sentence on charges of money-laundering. In 2014, billionaire mogul Mahafarid Amir Khosravi was executed for spearheading a bank scam totaling about $2.6 billion. That particular scandal implicated 39 people: four got a death sentence, two a life sentence, and the rest got up to a quarter century in prison.

The day of Zanjani’s sentencing hearing, 1 million barrels of Iranian crude landed in Europe, marking the country’s first authorized oil shipment since it emerged from economic sanctions in January. Five years ago, Iran’s oil-pumping rate was a striking 3.6 million barrels a day. But the nation’s economy took a major hit in 2012 when the European Union imposed economic sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program. The sanctions temporarily halted oil sales and exports like caviar, Persian rugs, and pistachios.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.