Graft cases implicating people close to President Rowhani have been stepped up.

The Iranian judiciary is heading to prosecute the Iranian President Hassan Rowhani’s brother, Hossein Feridon, as well as the son of his assistant, on corruption charges.

Graft cases implicating people close to Rowhani have been stepped up under pressure from conservatives who dominate the judiciary, ahead of the upcoming presidential and municipal council’s elections scheduled for next May.

Ghulam Hussein Aijia, the spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, disclosed that the court issued an arrest warrant against Taha Hashem – the son of Maasouma Ibtikar who works as an assistant for the Iranian President – who is wanted for issuing checks without balance that amount to tens of billions, according to Fares news agency.

Conservative Iranian media outlets accused Maasouma Ibtikar of helping her son escape from arrest.

Open letter from deputies

In a related context, 40 deputies of the Council of the Iranian Shura (parliament) wrote an open letter to the Chief Justice, pleading with him to conduct a speedy trial for the brother of the president because of his involvement in fiscal corruption and receiving bribes from Rassoul Daniel Zadeh, a convicted corrupt businessman.

The representatives stressed that Zadeh had transferred 140 billion Iranian riyals from abroad into the country. He had bought a luxurious house in an upscale area in North Tehran for Hossein Feridon’s wife, in exchange for facility arranged by the brother of Rowhani on bank loans amounting to thousands of billions from governmental banks.

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