Behrouz Dolatzadeh was arrested in the Czech Republic last year and held in custody. He was convicted there in June of attempted arms trafficking and attempting to violate sanctions on Iran. But he was released in September after an appeals court overturned his conviction and the United States failed to request his extradition, according to interviews with Czech officials.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix, Arizona, where Dolatzadeh was indicted, declined to comment on why no extradition request was filed. Dolatzadeh’s defence lawyer in Prague, Michal Marini, says he believes Dolatzadeh is back in Iran.
Iranian corporate filings show Dolatzadeh was appointed in recent years to the boards of three tech companies connected to a massive business empire controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top cleric and most powerful man. The conglomerate’s full name in Persian is Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam.
Reuters last month published a three-part series (www.reuters.com/investigates/iran/) detailing how Setad has become one of the most powerful institutions in Iran largely through the systematic seizure and sale of thousands of properties belonging to ordinary Iranians. Iran’s state news agency denounced the Reuters series as “disinformation” intended to undermine public trust in the Islamic Republic’s institutions.
Asked about Dolatzadeh, a spokesman for Setad said in an email, “We categorically deny any links to Mr. Dolatzadeh and have no knowledge about his whereabouts.” He added, “We also strongly deny that Setad or any company in which Setad directly or indirectly holds any interest has had, directly or indirectly, any involvement in arms transactions.”
The Setad spokesman said none of the companies on which Dolatzadeh was appointed as a board member “is owned directly or indirectly by Setad or any of its entities.”
But documents reviewed by Reuters and Iran corporate filings show that the companies Dolatzadeh joined are connected to each other through their boards, and are all linked to Setad.
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