Iran’s Minister of Oil has accused the former administration of abuse of power and the promotion of corruption. He added that under the former administration’s watch, Babak Zanjani, the Iranian tycoon now in custody on embezzlement charges, managed to receive 2.7 billion dollars thought a “fake bank” with the collaboration of a number of ministers and the head of the Central Bank, and that the money is now untraceable and gone.

Speaking on National Television on Tuesday August 12, Bijan Namadar Zanganeh said the money transferred to a “fake bank in Tajikistan” was signed over by a number of ministers and the head of the Central Bank and now it is “all gone.”

Zanjani was arrested last year, and one of the major charges against him is his non-payment of debts to the Ministry of Oil.

Zanjani was reportedly one of the former administration’s chief mediators in its efforts to evade international sanctions on Iran’s oil sector.

Radio Zamaneh