Ex-Iran bank chief found with $70m cheque

The former head of Iran's central bank, Tahmasb Mazaheri, has been found in possession of a cheque worth 54 million euros ($70 million) by German authorities, the Bild am Sonntag weekly reported. Mazaheri, in charge of the central bank until 2008, was searched by customs officers at Dusseldorf airport on January 21 after arriving aboard a flight from Turkey, the Sunday paper said. The cheque, with a value of 300 million Venezuelan bolivars, was discovered in his hand luggage, according to the report. The German customs office is investigating whether the cheque was part of a money-laundering operation. After the report was published, Mazaheri said that the cheque was designed to finance the Venezuelan government's construction of 10,000 homes.