AHMADINEJAD ASSOCIATE ARRESTED AFTER ACCUSING CLERICS OF

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 IRAN RPO DUBAI 000030 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/12/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL IR SUBJECT: AHMADINEJAD ASSOCIATE ARRESTED AFTER ACCUSING CLERICS OF CORRUPTION DUBAI 00000030 001.2 OF 003 CLASSIFIED BY: Jillian Burns, Director, Iran Regional Presence Office, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) 1.(S//NF) Summary: Abbas Palizdar, a minor Iranian politician associated with President Ahmadinejad, is making headlines after publicly accusing high-ranking conservative clerics of economic corruption and then being arrested. It is not yet clear what his motivation was or what impact his speeches will have. Two Iranian contacts said they believe Palizdar's speech was given with the permission of Ahmadinejad in order to divert attention from the government's mistakes and/or make it appear the government was fighting against corruption. However, it does not appear that the accusations received much coverage in domestic press until picked up outside the country, which would seem to undercut that argument. Palizdar later gave an interview to Radio Farda, which is taboo in Iran (unless authorized by the government, as one contact surmised). He was then reportedly arrested June 11, accused of publishing lies and disturbing public opinion, according to Fars News. One Dubai-based analyst said that the significance of Palizdar's speech is not necessarily the accusations he made against important clerics, since rumors of corruption by prominent figures abound in Iran, but whether the fall-out from these accusations impacts the Supreme Leader's support of Ahmadinejad. End Summary. The accusations -------------- 2.(U) Abbas Palizdar, a minor Iranian politician associated with President Ahmadinejad, reportedly gave speeches in May at Hamedan and Shiraz Universities, in which he accused high level Iranians of corruption. Among those he accused were members of the Guardian Council, Expediency Council, influential clerics from Qom and Mashhad and even close advisors of the Supreme Leader. According to press reports, Palizdar's accusations included the following: -- Guardian Council member and temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran Imanmi Kashani reportedly used his child's disability as a justification for taking over the licensing and operations of four mines. Kashani reportedly asked for the revenues from the mines to construct a physical therapy center for his son. -- Guardian Council member, Assembly of Experts member, former head of the judiciary, and head of the Teachers of Qom Theological Center Mohammad Yazdi reportedly made a large profit on a tire company after acquiring it at a fraction of its actual cost. Yazdi was also accused of using his position of power to secure logging rights for his son in northern Iran. -- Former speaker of the Majles and advisor to the Supreme Leader Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, former head of the Mostazafin Foundation Mohsen Rafiqdoost, former Secretary of the conservatives Islamic Coalition Association Asqar Oladi, Deputy Director of the Supreme Leader's Office (presumably Abdolhossein) Moezi, former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian, and the Mashhad cleric Ayatollah Elm Alhoda were all accused of fraud charges involving Iran Khodro car manufacturing plant. -- The Supreme Leader's representative in Khorasan province Ayatollah Vaezi Tabasi reportedly had 13 mines handed over to him. -- Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi's son-in-law (FNU) Modalal was called the "king of the sugar mafia." -- When asked about former president Rafsanjani and his family, Palizdar reportedly said, "their economic corruption is so wide that it is not possible to list them. But one of them is in their lack of payment of taxes to the government." Who is this guy? -------------- 3.(S//NF) Press reports and Iran analysts differ on Abbas Palizdar's current or former positions. Reformist newspaper E'temad called Palizdar a "barely known principle-ist" before he made his speech at Hamedan. A Tehran-based political and DUBAI 00000030 002.2 OF 003 economic analyst called him "a former economic counselor to parliament and an ally of President Ahmadinejad." Later, in a newsletter to clients, the analyst said Palizdar is a "former member of the Majles' Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission and now Head of Parliament's Office of Infrastructure Studies." 4.(S//NF) A purported former IRGC general told IRPoff that Palizdar is very close to Ahmadinejad and that Palizdar was the government's representative to the Majles Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission, which he described as the parliamentary committee that investigates corruption charges. He said Palizdar was not a member of parliament. The same source claimed that Palizdar waQormer IRGC member who had worked for him when the general ran the IRGC human resources department, presumably in the 1980s. The general claimed Palizdar was extremely hardline, which necessitated close monitoring of his activities. The former general also claimed that the source of Palizdar's information came from complaints that had been submitted to the Majles commission and may or may not be true, but had not been proved. He said that the head of the commission had distanced himself from Palizdar's claims. Saeed Aboutaleb, whom the general claimed was the head of the commission, was quoted in the Washington Post saying that Palizdar "was helping one of the parliament members as an expert but wasn't present in the sessions of the committee that deals with corruption issues." Palizdar's motivation? -------------- 5.(S//NF) What remains unclear is whether or not Palizdar was directed by President Ahmadinejad to launch an attack against conservative elements who are not considered allies of the president. Press reports claim that Palizdar did not initially mention names in his speech, only accusations, but started naming names when pressed by the audience. According to semi-official Fars News, Palizdar's accusations were based on a study he wrote that was reportedly commissioned by Ahmadinejad. Initial press reports were quick to point out that Palizdar did not accuse any of Ahmadinejad's close allies of corrupt practices. According to BBC Persian, Hamedan University's Islamic Association is closely associated with Ahmadinejad. Non-governmental media outlets also associated Palizdar with Ahmadinejad, particularly since Palizdar ran unsuccessfully in 2006 for Tehran's provincial council on a list that supported President Ahmadinejad. 6.(S//NF) The Tehran-based political and economic analyst claimed that some analysts believe that "Palizdar's intervention may have been a mechanism to test the limits of the government's criticism of the country's non-elected organs at a time when talks of (Supreme Leader) Khamenei's succession and the future of the velayat-e-faqih are taking shape." 7.(S//NF) Two IRPO contacts maintained that Palizdar spoke on behest of the president to divert blame and attention from government mismanagement, or to give the appearance of tackling the problem of corruption, particularly in the face of a new Majles full of presidential critics. One of them, a former staff member of the Guardians Council, was particularly dismissive of the incident, saying that these claims of corruption made by Palizdar were old and widely known. He felt that the speech was inconsequential political theater by Ahmadinejad, and none of those accused by Palizdar would be prosecuted. (Comment: The fact that the speeches apparently got little domestic press coverage until picked up by oppositionist media would seem to undercut these arguments that the speech was deliberate Ahmadinejad-directed propaganda. End comment) 8.(U) However, on June 11, BBC Persian noted a rush of Iranian press accounts critical of Palizdar and claimed that groups close to Ahmadinejad (no further information) appeared to be trying to distance themselves from him. Fars News reported that Bank Mellat is pressing charges against him for not replaying a business loan he received 16 years ago of more than $6 million. 9.(U) In an editorial, BBC Persian asserted that Ahmadinejad supporters, particularly students calling for an end to economic corruption, may now feel let down by the president since his government appears to be abandoning Palizdar. According to BBC's analysis, Ahmadinejad may be under pressure - including by those who were named by Palizdar - to stop talking about economic corruption. If anyone takes too close a look at major DUBAI 00000030 003.2 OF 003 economic dealings in Iran, the entire government would be implicated. 10.(S//NF) Accusations of corruption are nothing new in Iran, underscored a Dubai-based Iran analyst to IRPoff. Politicians are continually involved in "character assassination of one another," he said. This source said it is more important to step back and do a cost-benefit analysis of whether or not - given the latest accusations against people close to the Supreme Leader - Khamenei would continue to support Ahmadinejad. He argued that Ahmadinejad had served his purpose in the eyes of Khamenei; Ahmadinejad had diminished the role of Rafsanjani and pushed out reformists. If Ahmadinejad and his allies continue to isolate themselves and challenge leading clerics, it may be too costly for the Supreme Leader to continue to back Ahmadinejad. In any case, added the analyst, it is still "too soon" to make any clear predictions over Ahmadinejad's future. 11.(C) Comment: The most interesting aspects of this case to date have been: 1) the fact that an associate of Ahmadinejad gave an interview to Radio Farda --during which he boldly defended his accusations and promised to reveal more evidence to support his claims -- an act that is proscribed in Iran and has gotten others jailed; and 2) reports that Palizdar has now been arrested. One source claimed that Palizdar would not have spoken to Radio Farda without authorization from Ahmadinejad, which if true, would indicate a cunning use by the president of USG media. However, the source's comment came prior to the news of Palizdar's reported detention. Whatever the circumstances, none of our contacts to date view Palizdar's speech as a watershed event in Iranian politics likely to result in any real change.BURNS