Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of National Security and Foreign Policy for Iran’s Parliament, was reportedly arrested last week on charges of “involvement in the bank fraud” that was uncovered last month.
Iranian media report that Boroujerdi was released after 24 hours through the mediation of Ali Larijani, the head of Parliament.
Larijani’s mediation has been criticized by allies of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and by editorials published in the media.
Last month, the Iranian media published reports of a great bank fraud in which $3 billion was embezzled from eight Iranian banks through false letters of credit. The heaviest losses were sustained by the major banks Saderat and Melli.
Supporters of the Ahamdineajd administration accuse a number of MPs of being involved in the fraud and have recently published a letter that shows a number of Principalist and reformist MPs supporting Mahmoud Khavari, the head of the Melli Bank, who fled the country after the investigation of the case got underway.
Khavari, who also holds Canadian citizenship, is currently in Canada and has refused to return to Iran to respond to judicial investigators.
The presentation of the investigative findings in Parliament has been delayed over a number of disputes between MPs and the administration.
In the meantime, Ayatollah Khamenei has advised against creating too much media hype around the case.
