Widespread corruption of officials and agents of the Iranian regime in all areas of the country’s economy has existed for many years and continues to grow. The regime’s institutionalized corruption has resulted in extreme poverty and unemployment, pushing over 60 million Iranians below the poverty line. Thus, the  Iranian society is on the verge of social explosion and uprising.

In this article, we look at two examples of confessions by the regime’s officials about corruption in the country’s automobile industry.

First: Iranian MP on corruption in the car manufacturing industry: 8000 introduced by MPs to be hired

June 2020—Iranian regime’s member of parliament (Majlis) Ahmad Amir Abadi sheds light on a corner of corrupt policies of the regime in Iran’s auto manufacturing industry:

I had a meeting with the head of the Iran Khodro company and asked why are we in such a situation and why are you doing this? He said let’s start with our human resources. Don’t human resources have the first word in every company? In a technical company doing scientific and expertise work? I said in the ten previous Majlis (parliaments) at least 8,000 employees of the Iran Khodro company were introduced by MPs to be hired.

Anchorman: How many people work for Iran Khodro?

I think 50,000.

Anchorman: Meaning around one fifth.

Around 50-60,000 as IKCO has many subsidiaries

And then they also say an MP had his back we must place this individual at a certain post for them to be happy. Head of IKCO said one certain MP alone had introduced 300 people hired in the auto industry.

Anchorman: Did they say the MP’s name?

Yes.

Anchorman: During which parliament was he a member?

Just forget about it… the head of Iran Khodro would say the government would define the major policies of the Central Bank and the economy. Once you see liquidity going towards currency. Then you see liquidity going to housing, and then to the auto industry. I mean, how much production does Iran Khodro have for me to be held responsible for all this liquidity?

Second: Iran’s auto industry expert explains the corruption in the car manufacturing industry

May 2020-Morteza Mortazavi, an auto industry expert in Iran told the regime’s Ofogh network that while many educated people are unemployed, thousands of regime’s insiders are in charge of the auto industry without any specialization or degree.

Morteza Mortazavi, auto industry expert – Mid-May 2020:

 Ofogh Network

“The director that we put in charge of the auto industry comes from a political and government entity. This director is pursuing political interests more than the company’s interests. For example, a former governor retires and is immediately appointed as the deputy of an auto manufacturing company. A former head of security at state TV/radio retires and is appointed as director of another entity. The spokesperson of a security entity becomes the board director of a company as we speak. There are so many members of officials’ families in such posts… A certain MP calls and asks for his son to be hired…

Anchorman: Apparently everyone is in on it!

Yes, everything going around. I once calculated that right now we have a few thousand insiders hired in our auto industry at a price of more than 10 trillion rials ($38.68 million) for this industry. This is reflected in the rising prices of vehicles.

Anchorman: The thousands you are saying is an extremely high number. Do you have evidence?

We have an estimate, and we are talking about the entire auto industry. Our estimate shows the son of a certain retired government official to a certain former MP and the family member of a certain former minister… All the while many of our college graduates are unemployed… Look and see who the director generals are. I promise you 70 percent of the auto industry’s director generals are politically affiliated individuals. However, if you look at a company like BMW, the people working there are technicians. They are professionals because they intend to work there. They have plans for production. But there is no such thing here.”

Third: “Mafia gangs are in Iran’s corrupt car manufacturing industry”: Faculty member of the UST

November 2017-The faculty member of the University of Science and Technology(UST) Mohammad Hassan Shojaie talks about mafia gangs in Iran’s auto manufacturing industry. He explains how Iran’s industry is kept behind by the Iranian regime’s authorities.

Mohammad Hassan Shojaie:
“We have a corruption and mafia gang in the auto manufacturing industry which is a mafia of auto part makers and importers of parts and material. This mafia cannot carry out embezzlement if they work with universities to design and produce parts in Iran. But they can benefit from bribery and corruption when they import parts from abroad. These people suddenly become billionaires through the import and sale of parts. Why don’t we have such interest in exports? Recently, three of our neighbors, Russia, Iraq, and Qatar, began importing goods, and Iran was the closest country to them. We had to fill their markets, but nobody was interested, because they could not carry out embezzlements there. Our auto manufacturing companies are the government’s cash cows. The governments want to place a shepherd there to milk them for expenditures for which they cannot allocate money legally. All governments did the same from the beginning. We have no strategy in the industry and especially in the car manufacturing industry. They change their plans every day. One day they say, use LNG gas as fuel; the next day they say, it cannot be exported so use CNG, and after that, they talk about hybrid cars! I remember that once I was invited to a meeting in 2011, and they told me that we must produce 2 million hybrid cars by 2013. There weren’t 2 million hybrid cars in the world that day! In 2002-2003, they had paid $600,000 to a gentleman to plan a strategy for our auto manufacturing industry. He wrote four books, and I read the last book. In the end, he wrote that Iran’s auto manufacturing industry doesn’t need any strategy, as each government performs in its own way.”

Fourth: How the Iranian regime benefits form corruption in the car manufacturing industry

September 2020—Mehdi Dadfar, Secretary of the Iran Auto Importers Association explains how the regime’s insiders benefit from the auto manufacturing industry despite the fact that this industry renders losses.

Mehdi Dadfar: Why do governments prefer to remain in the auto industry?
-Anchorman: But they are losing money! Why are they holding on to it?
It isn’t profitable for the state [read the Iranian people], but very profitable for those in ministerial posts, high-ranking directors and their family members.
-What profit?
Right now in the auto industry in the past year, if you look google it, you’ll see how many grooms, brides, state officials and military personnel, MPs and their siblings have positions in the boards of directors of various auto companies.
-Well, there are two boards of directors, so let’s say there are 30 individuals.
No. There are 186 companies, and a total of 200 firms involved.
-There are so many boards of directors, why are these individuals specifically targeting the auto industry?
I’ll explain. The auto industry has many loopholes and “back alleys,” and it is connected to a variety of other industries. You need to buy and sell from these different industries, and during this process there are many various opportunities to take advantage of. One can do so quite easily. Furthermore, if you don’t have profits in the private sector, they’ll fire you. That is not the case in our auto industry. You just sit there and at least get your paycheck.