Iran pay scam takes down development fund bosses

The entire management of Iran’s development fund was forced to resign on Saturday as part of a mounting scandal over lavish executive salaries, the ISNA news agency reported.
Iran has been gripped by the scandal ever since the payslips of executives at several public companies were leaked two months ago, showing salaries more than 100 times that of their average workers.
It has provided ammunition for hard-line opponents of moderate President Hassan Rouhani less than a year before he faces re-election.
Seyed Safdar Hosseini, a former reformist minister who was hand picked by Rouhani to head the development fund, had been particularly targeted by Iran’s conservative media. His leaked payslip showed he was paid 580 million rials ($17,000) per month.
Hosseini resigned along with the rest of the development fund’s management, which oversees investment in infrastucture. Media reports said he had agreed to repay some $140,000 to the state.
The news came just two days after Economy Minister Ali Tayebnia sacked the directors of four banks “for receiving unconventional pay and loans.”
The media have also accused Hossein Fereydoun, the president’s brother and special adviser, of influencing the appointment of the head of Refah bank, who was among those fired on Thursday after it emerged he earned some $60,000 a month.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed calls on Saturday for the government to crack down on exorbitant salaries. The economy minister has set a salary cap of $5,500 a month for bank directors, local media reported, with wider regulations for public companies to follow.
Separately, hundreds of journalists in Iran have received an anonymous text message warning against contact with “hostile” organizations outside the country, the ISNA reported.
“All contact and collaboration with hostile elements based abroad, by mail or other methods of communication, is a crime and will be brought to justice. This SMS is the last warning,” the message said. As many as 700 journalists and public figures received the SMS.

Source: Arab News