The new case is of the clash between Hamideh Zarabadi, a parliament member, and Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, Minister of Information and Communications Technology.
In this disclosure, three remarkable cases of corruption and the systematic suppression was revealed.
Case One: Nepotism
Hamideh Zarabadi, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Industries and Mines, said in a news conference recently she had raised questions about some of the financial affairs and appointments for members of Azari Jahromi’s family, but Azari Jahromi refused to answer these questions, claiming that they raise security concerns. Zarabadi then said about the astronomical income of a relative of Azari Jahromi: “Mrs. Sana Asadian is the sister-in-law of the Minister of Communications, born in 1986; tell us how many unemployed people we have at this age in the country. Her income over the past three years has been 2.3 billion tomans, with an average of 69 million tomans a month, and in some months, this figure has increased up to 137 million tomans.”
She added: “I posed a question to the Minister of Communications, and Mr. Azari Jahromi wrote to the Guardian Council saying that my question was a security issue. Where are these security issues?”
Zarabadi referred to a person by the name of Fatemeh Saharaian and said: “I have documents that a number of Irancell and Rightel dealerships in Jahrom are in the name of Ms. Fatemeh Saharaian, whose husband’s name is also Hadi Azari Jahromi.” Apparently, this person is the wife of Azeri Jahromi’s brother.
A little about Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi:
Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi is the Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the “Infrastructure Communication Company”, which is one of the subsidiary companies of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of Iran. The company controls Iran’s Internet.
The Infrastructure Communications Company in Iran is the main operator of communication infrastructure management in the country, both public and private. Traffic to a landline, mobile and computer networks such as the Internet and some widespread private networks such as power and electricity control, banking, government-owned Takrim Arbab Rojuh, Integrated Justice Network Automation (judiciary), and some military management networks also exchange information over the “infrastructure” controlled by the state-owned infrastructure company.
The Infrastructure Communications Company is the custodian of the country’s telecommunications networks. The company is one of the largest companies in the country, which owns a large number of facilities like apartments, fitness saloons… while similarly to it, no other Iranian citizen is in possession of it.
Case Two: Eavesdropping on the Iranian Parliament member by the Minister of Information
At the same news conference, Zarabadi said that she had made a point privately with her brother about how to ask Azari Jahromi, over the phone, but the minister’s associates published their conversation in the newspapers.
Zarabadi said in response to a second question about the eavesdropping to a Fars reporter: “I said in my speech that we need to feel safe. As for my speech, we had a subject that I only knew and had only consulted with my brother. It was interesting to me that a person very close to the Minister of Communication published the news that I had a speech on Azari Jahromi.
What this shows is the depth of social insecurity in Iran, that the government is spying even on itself. They eavesdrop on each other. They collect information about each other and make cases so that they can carry out their fight with their competitors on a later day.
Case 3: Tweets, 500,000 tomans and upwards
During the interview with the Fars News Agency, the reporter said: ‘One of the reports published on the Internet revealed that the Entekhab website had received a sum of money and published attacks against you (Zarabadi).
Zarabadi replied: “We have documented information that in some cases the price of these tweets starts at 500,000 tomans. The Ministry of Communications is paying 500,000 tomans for each tweet to specific individuals.”
