NCRI – An amount of 19 billion Tomans (US $5.4 Million ) was deposited in the Teachers Investment Fund Corporation (TIFCO) from the monthly income of the teachers so that they will be paid pension at the time of retirement. Nevertheless, this organization became involved in one of the biggest financial corruptions in Iran.
On 25th of January 2017, Tasnim News Agency Affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) reported that a financial corruption with an amount of $2.3 billion was revealed from the Teachers Investment Fund Corporation. Following such incident and the complicity of the Attorney General of Iran Mohammad Jafar Montazeri with this matter, some employees including the former Director of TIFCO, Shahabeddin Ghandali were arrested for further investigations.
It is worth noting that the massive loans had been particularly granted to 30 people without any difficulty or receiving the required collaterals. As some MPs stated, among those 30 people that received massive loans to an amount of $2.3 billion, some of them also received loans from $143 to $286 Million for the shell companies. These people were given huge loans backed by a cheque and they have spent these loans for building constructions and personal objectives.
These violations are the biggest financial abuse in Iran’s recent history. The former Minister of Education Morteza Haji and a member of the Board of Trustees of TIFCO believe that there are two major problems in this matter. They said that some people are accused of inaccurate pricing. On the other hand, a letter of guarantee to an amount of $126 Million was issued in favor of some people whom they only have a total of $600 investment.
Tasnim News agency further posed questions that, why one of the biggest financial corruption of Iran’s history belongs to TIFCO and if the relevant authorities were aware of these corruptions in TIFCO and Sarmayeh Bank or not? Is the Board of Trustees of TIFCO responsible for monitoring the performance of this organization or not? And why these supervisions are not provided precisely?
The complicated structure and the lack of an accurate monitoring have caused corruption in TIFCO. The lack of supervision caused the 19-bilion-Toman deposits of Teachers to TIFCO become as one of the biggest financial corruption of Iran’s history.
In fact, TIFCO which was supposed to use the profits of its subdivision companies to provide services for the retired teachers. Nevertheless, instead, provided ground for financial abuse.
Although the new authorities of this organization are trying to restore the lost trust of teachers by changing the members of the board of directors and depositing interests to accounts of teachers it would be quite difficult to restore the trusts.
